Follow up on "Odd Ball Event"

I posted here the other day about a weird experience I had seeing a wall cloud. There was no lightning, no watch, and no warning. Conditions were not classic for tornado formation by any means. Well guess what? The NWS Huntsville has confirmed that an F0 tornado occurred a few miles west of where I spotted what I now believe was a wall cloud. I probably dropped the ball by not reporting it but in my disbelief I decided to wait on it and it dissipated into the rest of the clouds. Check this out:


PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 610 PM CDT TUE JUN 19 2007


..NWS CONDUCTS STORM SURVEY IN TRINITY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS AND MORGAN COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CONDUCTED A STORM SURVEY FOR DAMAGE IN THE CITY OF TRINITY THIS AFTERNOON. THE DAMAGE OCCURRED WITH A LINE OF SHOWERS THAT MOVED THROUGH THE TRINITY AREA AT APPROXIMATELY 1100 AM CDT.


THE SURVEY FOUND EVIDENCE OF A TORNADO...RATED EF-0...WITH HIGHEST ESTIMATED WINDS OF 65 MPH. THE TORNADO WAS APPROXIMATELY 25 YARDS WIDE...WITH A PATH LENGTH OF ONE-QUARTER MILE. THE DAMAGE WAS CONFINED MOSTLY TO UPROOTED TREES AND SNAPPED LIMBS. ONE RESIDENCE SUSTAINED SOME DAMAGE...MAINLY TO SHEDS AND FENCING AT THE BACK OF THE PROPERTY.


OF NOTE...THE STORM THAT SPAWNED THE TORNADO WAS VOID OF LIGHTNING ACTIVITY. THEREFORE...THE STORM IS CLASSIFIED AS A SHOWER AND NOT A THUNDERSTORM. PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS OF THE DAMAGE WILL BE POSTED ON THE NWS HUNTSVILLE WEBSITE...WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/HUN...BY 1100 AM CDT WEDNESDAY. COYNE/NADLER/RAMOS

Huntsville NWS Meteorologist Andy Kula, on talkweather.com, referred to this as "one of those odd ball event that warrants further study." It just goes to show that sometimes we get all hyped up for major outbreaks that do not happen and other times we miss all the action because things pop up unexpectedly. Expect the unexpected!

What was that I was seeing?

WAFF Doppler Radar

Tuesday 6/19/07 I worked only during the morning. A significant weather alert was issued for Morgan County, AL at11:10 a.m. and I wondered why. It was barely raining. The conditions were not favorable for severe weather. The area where storms were forming was not far away and frankly, things didn't look that bad. There was not even any lightning.

A little while later I was driving to Huntsville from Decatur, Alabama. I saw what looked like a "textbook" wall cloud over Madison, AL. All my storm spotter training and 35 years of weather observations inside of me screamed, "this CANNOT be a wall cloud!" Conditions were not ideal for tornadoes and no watches or warnings were in effect.

I will say this: I saw an isolated lowering of the cloud base and the clouds seemed to show some rotation, albeit weak. There was heavy rain and gusty wind at the surface, but no lightning.

I was tempted to report this to the NWS Huntsville. Then I thought about one of the rules of spotting: keep an eye on it for a few minutes before jumping to conclusions. It seemed to be absorbed into the rest of the clouds after about five minutes. I then went on my merry way.

The only thing, in retrospect, that should have given me more concern, was that a significant weather alert had been issued for the same storm a little earlier to my west.

Tonight I read this article in the Decatur, AL Daily. It just goes to show that with severe weather, one of the biggest "rules" is to "expect the unexpected". Alabama weather legend J.B. Elliott deserves credit for teaching me that idea!

Unfortunately my camera died on my recent vacation so I have no photos or videos to share.

Southern Weather Brigade teammate Dewdrop also had an unexpected cool experience!