Storms Weakening Here; Significant Damage in Mississippi

From here on out, we are adopting a “no news is good news policy.” We have done our last update on WHNT TV unless a severe thunderstorm warning is issued (which is unlikely at this point). The storms are elevated; that means they are not rooted in the air near the surface, so they don’t have the potential to grow as intense as the storms to the southwest of us over Mississippi.

Here’s the radar image at 12:40 AM:

Let me take this time to give a shout-out to Twitter – we are getting some incredible severe weather reports from Mississippi tonight via Twitter. It is more efficient than Facebook, and we don’t have to worry about what someone sees or doesn’t see in timeline. I’m @simpsonwhnt and Jennifer Watson is @JWatson_WX. Follow us, and we’ll follow you back.

So, significant damage has occurred around Yazoo City, Mississippi and the town of Louise, Mississippi. Some of the Twitter reports have been very strongly worded about Louise being “gone.” We cannot confirm that, but there are some reliable sources providing that kind of information.

Here are some of the reports:

-Numerous reports of structural damage in Bolivar, Grenada, and Yazoo Counties
-Trees down in Sunflower County
-Homes damaged on Hwy 14 WNW of Louise in Sharkey County.
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The main threat for the rest of the morning will be well south of the Tennessee Valley; that’s where the air is more conducive to severe storm development. We’re not giving anyone the shaft on coverage; frankly, there’s nothing to cover except some heavy rain and lightning. Winds are consistently in the 20-30 MPH range ahead of and within the storms – that’s not going to do much damage.

The atmosphere just isn’t right for continued intensification of storms around here. The dewpoints around this region are too low for significant severe weather, and now that the storms are outrunning the good low-level moisture, they will continue to weaken as they move through Huntsville, Hartselle, Fayetteville and Winchester. There is no real threat of severe weather to the east of US 431, so Jackson and DeKalb Counties can rest easy knowing it’s just going to rain with some thunder & lightning through 3-4 AM.

Go to bed and don’t worry about the severe weather threat; it is all but over for us as the storms continue to diminish over North Alabama and Southern Tennessee. We will still be here watching it, but you won’t see us on TV or hear us on the web anymore unless there is “bad news” to tell you. Remember, no news is good news.

-Jason
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