The CALM before the Storm...

I received a comment from a dear friend, where she referenced a tornado warning in her area (outside of Atlanta) that was issued on Sunday. She was confused by the warning because conditions didn't seem "bad" enough for a tornado. Please don't ever be fooled by clear or less than severe conditions. If your weather radio, TV station or weather.com tells you to take shelter immediately, please act accordingly! It could be nothing (great, then you can laugh about it later), but it's really not worth taking the risk. SEEK SHELTER! A lot of times the worst part of a storm is on the leading edge of a squall line event. In fact, sometimes, isolated cells form well ahead of the line where instability and available energy is ideal for tornadogenesis, and those are the most dangerous because, as she said, conditions usually appear fine and then WaPOW!, there is this doozy of a supercell that drops a tornado seemingly out of nowhere. Such was the case on February 17th, where an isolated supercell formed ahead of the squall line causing an insane amount of damage when it eventually dropped the EF3 tornado in Prattville, AL. It actually started as a very isolated and powerful (destined to be a long lived) supercell, well ahead of the main squall line that ended up dropping an EF1 in Molino, FL, then dropped an EF2 in Dixie, AL, then an EF1 in Covington County, AL. The preliminary storm report is available from the National Weather Service in Pensacola/Mobile here. The supercell actually then seemingly merged with the squall line as it tracked north, maintaining its distinction as a discrete cell with tremendous energy and potential, eventually dropping 6 tornadoes in the Birmingham county warning area, including the EF3 tornado in Prattville, AL, which injured 50 people and damaged over 240 homes and businesses. The preliminary report is available here. I am disappointed that there don't seem to be preliminary storm reports for the Tallahassee and Atlanta (I did hear, just now, that yesterday, while Meso Mike was photographing some of the damage from the Rebecca, Georgia, tornado, that he came across the Peachtree City, National Weather Service assessment crew, so maybe reports soon--Mike should have those pics up soon on his blog. He has been having some technical difficulties.) CWA portions of this outbreak, but perhaps those will come with time. It is clear in the map of storm reports that there were two lines of clear tornadic activity, one with that long lived supercell that dropped all those tornadoes on its track through 3 states, then along the leading edge of the main squall line. It looks like the tornado near Whigham and Cairo, GA, was most likely another one of those isolated cells ahead of the line that dropped a tornado. Of course, the line later fired back up when it interacted with the moisture feed off the Atlantic Ocean over in eastern North Carolina, which, by the way, has not posted a preliminary report either. The number of tornado reports is currently at 46. I have not heard how many tornadoes have been confirmed.

When I chased in the plains during my chasetunity with the Twister Sisters, the supercell that I was watching in South Dakota was isolated, the weather around it was relatively clear, and I stood and watched as a funnel cloud dropped from the wall cloud... I repeat, clear conditions where I was, and I was looking at what could have potentially become a tornado... see how relatively clear the weather is... well, in this shot, I am looking at a huge mesocyclone with a large rotating wall cloud with a rope funnel descended from it.

I found this link to James Spann's site that has some pictures of the damage from the tornado in Prattville, AL. Thought I would share.

Also, in looking for damage reports, I came across this NWS Warning System Simulator on the Peachtree City site that basically puts you in the "Hot Seat" during a severe weather outbreak. Your job is to watch radar and issue warnings. Watch out, it's addictive. Follow this link to play ---> LINK.

God bless,
~Dewdrop