Severe weather still on track for Georgia and Alabama Wednesday JAN 30 #gawx #alwx

This was written for my local area and posted on my Facebook page Cataula Georgia Weather. The local area is Columbus and Fort Benning Georgia and Phenix City Alabama. You can use this information for areas anywhere in East Alabama and West Georgia as the system coming through will cover a large area. On with the show....

The exact time is still in question depending on which model you go by and I will continue to look at them for agreement. Still looking like instabilities will increase sometime after 8:00 AM EST Wednesday morning. Regardless of timing, before the main area comes through we may see some thunderstorms in the area some which could be severe with damaging winds, lightning, and heavy rain.

The winds will be gusty during this time 20 to 25 mph and will increase as the expected line of stronger storms gets closer and moves through the area to about 40 mph. Gusty winds like this can cause damage without being associated with severe storms. Stronger winds are likely in any severe storm. I'll also keep a watch for any discrete / individual storm cells developing out in front of the main line. These may become strong enough to bring severe weather to the area before the main line. These type of individual storm cells may also be capable of spawning tornadoes. The greatest threat at this time remains unchanged from my previous posts .. Strong to severe 'damaging winds' are likely and the possibility of a tornado or two. As always, 'not everyone will see severe storms and or tornadoes'.

I'll be looking at this closely over the coming hours for any changes that may increase the severity of the storms. Right now I do have one concern. As the trough approaches that will be bring the storms to the area, it looks to go from a positive tilt to a neutral tilt. This will increase the wind speeds / shear in both the upper and lower levels. At this time the winds are more than adequate for a damaging wind event and a couple tornadoes. Any increase would make this a larger threat. If the trough should go negatively tilted, the wind and shear would again increase even more. This is something that will need to be monitored and I will be doing just that. I'll have another update Wednesday Morning or sooner is needed. ~ ED

As always, find me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CataulaGeorgiaWeather and Twitter before and when the storms strike. I'm there all the time and don't always have time to update the blog here ;) Follow @Cataulagawx

Tropical Storm #Isaac - Georgia-Alabama-Florida Panhandle

First and foremost ... No one knows where this storm is going or what the strength will be at this time. Computer Models continue to flip flop with every run. What we are seeing are best guess tracks and wind speeds.

Now with that said .. at this time there is better than a 50% chance this storm which is likely to become a Hurricane and will impact the Florida Panhandle. Where exactly is to be determined.

Current information has Isaac as a Category 1 Hurricane at landfall. It is possible Isaac could be a category 2 hurricane at landfall but this is uncertain. Regardless of this, Isaac is a large storm as far as overall size. His winds will be felt miles from the center. At this time Tropical storm force winds [ minimum 39 miles per hour ] extend out from the center over 200 miles. In other words .. If Isaac were to make landfall in Pensacola Florida his tropical storm winds will be felt in central Alabama and Georgia. These kind of winds can cause damage as well as bringing down trees across power lines. Heavy rain is also expected which will cause flooding as well. There is also a threat for Tornadoes with any land falling Hurricane.

I am not one to hype up a storm, It is best though that folks in Florida, Georgia and Alabama prepare for what may be coming.

You can find all the information on the Tropical Weather Page here ..

 See the Tropical Weather Page for Active Tropical Systems    Tropical page updates automatically when New Data is available


I will likely not have much time to post here in the days to come. However .. you can find myself along with many others posting important information which is being constantly updated here - For rapid updates on Tropical Storm Isaac From 20 forecasters Covering 9 states along with professional and tropical meteorologist http://www.facebook.com/fftropicalzone , So hit the link and while you're there give the page a like.

We have been covering this storm since the beginning well before others and we will be covering Isaac until the end.