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Report
Tornado threat ramping up on the Gulf Coast
AccuWeather
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1/9/2024
Extreme meteorologist Dr. Reed Timmer reported live from Mississippi on the evening of Jan. 8 as severe weather intensified across the area.
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00:00
Hey Reed, earlier in the day we did have some scares here outside of Houston, outside of
00:04
New Orleans.
00:05
There were some tornado warnings, but the worst may be yet to come with this event.
00:10
Yeah, the worst is definitely yet to come.
00:13
It's still about 59 degrees here in Gulfport, but that warm unstable air is just offshore
00:18
in the Gulf of Mexico and it's lifting off to the north of that low level jet.
00:21
And once that warm front comes ashore here in the central Gulf Coast, that's when the
00:24
tornado threat's really going to ramp up.
00:27
And looking at some of the short-range models, it looks like that's going to happen in the
00:30
next hour or two across southeastern Louisiana, including Baton Rouge to New Orleans, up to
00:35
Slidell, over here to Gulfport.
00:37
And that original tornado-warned storm that was just to the west of New Orleans, that
00:41
passed just to the north of Gulfport just minutes ago, and we had very strong southerly
00:45
winds just ripping into that storm.
00:47
And there's very strong winds aloft right now, so any storm that moves through mixes
00:51
down those strong winds to the surface, and that's why there's a lot of damaging wind
00:55
potential with these storms.
00:56
So that storm that passed just to the north of Gulfport is packing winds at about 60 miles
01:00
an hour as it lifts rapidly off to the northeast.
01:03
And I'm watching for new development now to the southwest of Baton Rouge.
01:07
That warm front is starting to lift north.
01:09
I'm watching for the development of those renegade supercells to develop just to the
01:12
southwest of New Orleans, and that's when this event's really going to ramp up in about
01:16
an hour or two.
01:17
You got it, Reid.
01:18
I know you're going to be on the move to get yourself positioned there for the best place
01:22
to see the heaviest of the weather, and we want you to be safe out there.
01:26
As I know you always are.
01:27
But these nocturnal thunderstorm events that can bring tornadoes, they can be so much more
01:32
dangerous, especially with some of these storms that have been moving pretty fast.
01:37
That's right, and this is the most dangerous type of tornado outbreak.
01:40
These winter outbreaks that happen in the middle of the night.
01:43
A lot of people are sleeping, and there's a lot of strong winds aloft as well that drives
01:48
those storm motions up to 50, 60 miles an hour, even stronger than that.
01:51
So there's not a lot of lead time, but they do produce tornadoes, and a lot of times they're
01:55
long track as well.
01:57
So as this storm continues to deepen and continue to barrel toward the north-central Gulf Coast,
02:02
the wind fields are going to increase dramatically, and with that, the low-level wind shear is
02:05
going to increase as well.
02:07
The heat and moisture is going to pump northward from the Gulf of Mexico, and that is going
02:11
to set the stage for strong to even potentially violent tornadoes overnight tonight into tomorrow
02:16
morning as that squall line pushes east.
02:18
It's going to be near the Mobile area, into the Florida Panhandle, and then that threat
02:22
is going to rocket off to the northeast, toward central and eastern South Carolina, possibly
02:26
even up to the North Carolina Outer Banks by tomorrow afternoon and evening.
02:30
Alright, thanks a lot for that report for us tonight, Reid.
02:32
We appreciate it.
02:33
Stay safe out there, and we hope to check back in with you.
02:38
Thank you for having me.
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