Update on worldly catastrophes and local weather...

AP Photo... A man sits near the site of a collapsed school building in Wenchuan, Sichuan province, May 15, 2008. More Photos are available at this link. Just to warn you, some of the photos are extremely graphic, and they will impact you. It is an amazingly shocking view into the devastation there. Unfortunately, reports now indicate that the current death toll of 19,509, could soar to 50,000. Desperate appeals for rescue equipment are being made by the government. It's a dire, grim scene. Given that though... you just have to wonder about the situation in Myanmar. We know it was devastating there, but they are not requesting help. They have it under control, a pride which most likely cause that country many thousands of lives. The junta is placing the official death toll around 38,500, but suspicions are that fatalities exceed 200,000. Here is a link to a video about this. Again... I warn you of its potential impact on you.

Onto local weather... yesterday saw an additional 6 (per SPC)- 9(per TWC) yesterday in Texas, but the big story has been the BIG hail over there. This morning, there were reports of grapefruit, softball and baseball sized hail stones near Austin, TX. Currently, the map is lit up with a powerful storm tracking across the Gulf States at the moment. This is heavily a hail, wind and rain event, though there is a slight risk of tornadoes in the southern portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.The slight risk for severe weather, which included my area yesterday has been moved westward, as the storm didn't make as much eastward progress as was expected by this point in time, but our chance for severe weather has been added for tomorrow... another mostly wind event.

1247EDT Update: Tornado watch for the FL panhandle. The MCS approaches from the west... now beginning to take a more northward turn. I see significant moisture feed in off the Gulf. If that keeps up, we might have a squall to contend with... Gee, I love squalls... not. It is very possible that Andalusia, AL has something (tornadic) happening there. There has been persistently strong rotation on radar for some time now. It doesn't seem to be moving on...

1336EDT Update: Just checked SPC... Oh my...

1654 ANDALUSIA COVINGTON AL 3131 8648 TORNADO REPORTED ON THE GROUND JUST WEST OF ANDALUSIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Yikes.

1700EDT Update: I'm not saying that the D--v--d exists (since I am not allowed), but this is the early shot of the activity on the left, and the current scene in my neck of the woods as it approaches.





I'm just saying...

Toodles,
~Dewdrop