I remain suspicious of this “severe weather,” but have no means of verifying my suspicions.
Severe weather expected today, Wednesday
By Adam Smith adam@athensnews-courier.com The News Courier Tue Apr 26, 2011
— The National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook Monday as strong storms are expected to sock the Tennessee Valley in three different phases today and Wednesday.
The first round of storms will enter North Alabama this morning, according to meteorologist Kurt Weber with the National Weather Service in Huntsville. He said the main threat would be damaging winds, large hail and the possibility of isolated tornadoes, though the strongest storms will likely be west of Interstate 65.
Weber said Wednesday will be “quite busy” as two different storm systems will fire up across the region ahead of a slow-moving cold front. The main threat early Wednesday will again be damaging winds and large hail. The most severe weather, however, is expected to move in Wednesday afternoon and last through the evening hours.
“We could get into that threat of having more than just isolated tornadoes,” Weber said. “This has the potential to be a tornado outbreak. We’re a little more concerned about this.”
He said if the weather models remain unchanged, North Alabama has the potential to receive weather similar to the system that produced tornadoes near Tuscaloosa and Birmingham on April 15.
“The other thing is, this front is going to move slowly and we’ll have 2 to 4 inches of rain in some areas and potentially as much as 6 in some spots,” Weber said. “We’ll also have some strong gradient winds on Wednesday with gusts of 30 to 35 mph and more than that in higher elevations.”
The storms are expected to push northeast and be out of Limestone and Madison counties by late Wednesday night.
Weber said the rest of the week looks much more quiet, with temperatures in the upper 60s to low 70s on Thursday and lows in the lower 50s. Friday’s temps will be back in the upper 70s, though a more widespread chance of showers will return to the forecast on Saturday.
The rest of the weekend and early part of next week could bring showers and storms, but Weber said the current models don’t indicate a chance of severe weather.
