Tornado threat ramping up on the Gulf Coast

AccuWeather

Extreme meteorologist Dr. Reed Timmer reported live from Mississippi on the evening of Jan. 8 as severe weather intensified across the area.

Transcript

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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