CASILIST : SEVERE STORMS (78dbZ!) in AL/MS ; Severe Threat for SE Tomorrow

J (j{at}weatherwatchers.org)
Fri, 17 Apr 1998 22:53:36 -0400

I have been watching unbelievably heavy storms on radar this evening in
southern MS and AL. At 22:41Z this evening MOB's radar reported a
thunderstorm with a max dbZ of 78. This is the most intense storm that
I have ever seen on radar as it is rare to see radar intensities above
70dbZ and practically unheard of to be much above that (nexrad color
scales terminate at 75dbZ). It was pounding the area with 4.5" hail
(softball size) at the time. During the last hour about 2000 cloud to
ground lightning strikes were attributed to these storms.

In an unrelated event, two separate reports of funnel clouds were
reported this evening north of Greensboro NC with a supercell that
rapidly dissipated afterwards.

Even here in PA we've had the storms today, albeit east of HQ, where
several tornado warnings went out and at least one tornado was sighted.

This severe weather is moving into the southern CASI area this evening,
namely Central and South GA. CASI Members in GA and SC should be on the
alert for severe weather overnight. The SPC has issued a Moderate Risk
of severe thunderstorms for Alabama, extreme western GA, and south
central TN for tomorrow ; a slight risk is in effect overnight for most
of the CASI area south of D.C. Currently several severe thunderstorm
watches cover MS, AL, and GA.

--
==============================================================
Jesse Ferrell - Meteorologist/Web Dev. - j{at}weatherwatchers.org
Central Atlantic Storm Investigators - www.weatherwatchers.org
"And here a twister comes... here comes the twister."
--Talking Heads                           || ICQ No. 136862 ||