... A Tornado Warning remains in effect until 1045 PM CST for western
Shelby... extreme northwestern DeSoto and central Crittenden
counties...

At 1003 PM CST... National Weather Service Doppler radar continued to
indicate a tornado. This tornado was located near Midway Corner... or
9 miles southwest of West Memphis... moving northeast at 60 mph.

Locations in the warning include but are not limited to Edmondson...
Marion... sunset... West Memphis... downtown Memphis... Frayser... Midtown
Memphis... southwest Memphis... Crittenden... Ebony... Gavin... Harvard...
Briark and Bridge Junction.

This warning also includes areas near Brandywine Lake... coronee lake
and Wapanocca Lake.


Live coverage from Memphis: http://www.wreg.com

overnight and in the AM.
didn't think much more about it till I cam here and saw this thread.

Please stay safe.

candles and rosaries asking god to watch over my family and neighbors. I always get alittle scared. I won't be sleeping to well tonight. Stay safe everyone. I hope there isn't much damages or deaths. Peace be with you all.

I ask because my stepmother lives in Seymour TN and I just saw this. I am wondering if I should call and wake her up to warn her.

Sam

I would rather be woken by a phone call I wasn't expecting than a tornado I wasn't expecting.

I live around Rock Island Tn. How did your stepmom make out. I don't know where Seymour is.

same god that sends the tornadoes...hide in the SE corner of your basement, that is the only tangible protection for us.

the morning watching a long, long movie on AMC (Kingdom of Heaven). It was pretty good. We were lucky we didn't have it to bad. Guess my prayers to god worked.

Thanks for posting this. I have family in Memphis.

It is 60 degrees right now. Feels like late Feb, not late Jan.
Wind is blowing a bit.
Just heard a warning for Jackson Miss. which is where our weather comes out of, so tonight will be interesting.
Usually they hit a bit north of me, meaning the Tuscaloosa area...damn.


"Weather service meteorologists expect a line of storms that already has prompted tornado warnings in Arkansas to hit the Jackson metro area between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. and exit the state state by 4 a.m. The weather service said the storms will be capable of producing severe thunderstorms, damaging winds, tornadoes and golf-ball sized hail.

Meteorologist Anna Weber said the weather looks to be bringing a line of storms that could spawn supercells as well as 70-80 mile per hour winds. The worst of the weather is expected to hit a line from Rayville, La., to Laurel and north."

This is the kind of weather I try to stay awake for.

Stay safe dixiegrrrrl.

Looks like warm air from the Gulf of Mexico is colliding with cold air from the north.

At any rate, this is unusual for Arkansas, at least, since historically the worst tornadoes in that state have occurred almost exclusively in March and April. So, the 2010 New Year's Eve tornado that occurred in Cincinnati, Arkansas (near the Oklahoma border) was a real shocker.

What we're seeing is perfectly normal. It's happening all over the solar system - why, just the other day, there was a massive tornado outbreak on the moon.

But we're in the process of establishing a "new normal", so, all bets are off, really.

Stay safe DUers in these areas.

There was one that happened in January, 1975 that went as far north as the bottom of Illinois and dropped an F4 tornado that killed 9 people in Southern Miss.

Once every 30 years can certainly be considered 'very rare'.

But it has been slightly more common than once every 3 decades, though.
There was the New Year's Eve 2010 outbreak. One in 2007 occurred on the last day of winter and the first day of spring and was the one that produced the Enterprise, Ala. twister.
And more on topic, there was a mid-winter outbreak in 1999 that spawned 100+ tornadoes and killed 16 people.
Apparently, more also occurred in 1947, 1949, 1967, 1969, and even as far back as 1929.

So yeah, they are somewhat rare, but they do happen just a tad more than some might think.

Batten down your hatches, or whatever .

Check in tomorrow, so we'll know how you fared.

This is fucking weird weather.

I thought: is that the washing machine, the dishwasher? (Neither was on.) Then I panicked and thought it was the furnace. Then I looked out the window and saw that all hell was breaking loose with lightning (and I guess hail, because it sounded like that). Lucky my son and daughter-in-law, who'd come to dinner, just three minutes before called to tell me they'd gotten home okay (though maybe it was already crazy on the South Side).

I was freaking out trying to figure out what that booming noise was!

Hell, this was a full blast thunderstorm, heavy lightning, high winds, a good time to stay indoors. Even my dogs were cowering around us.

I don't want to be caught in the middle of the night by a violent storm. While I might not sleep through it, I could be sleepy and unprepared. My husband would sleep through it. He sleeps through anything.

My radio has battery back-up, too. I would recommend one of these radios for everyone.

Stay safe, people down there!

On TV, and the sirens are going off here (safely to the NW).

I have to show up for work at 6am. I'm going to be driving right through the worst of this shortly.

Was a uneventful one

I made it safe and sound, but it was rough in some spots. At times the rain was on par with a tropical system.

I guess that explains the torrential downpour.

I've made that drive many times but in reverse from the University to the Gadsden Center.

I work for a utility contractor. We are starting a new job.

That is if you can avoid rush hour in Bham.

We have 2 days left there, and then we are focused on Tuscaloosa for around a month... My gas guzzler would cost me an arm and a leg if I had that commute every day

Do you still make that commute?

Blew the heavy storm shovel off my porch.
Looks like it is leaving my part of the Bluegrass right now.
Good luck everybody.

for the warning to those in the way.

Update at 7:50 a.m. ET: A WBMA reporter on the scene says a section of northeast Birmingham "looks like a war zone" with businesses levelled by the storm.

Update at 7:54 a.m. ET: WBMA TV, quoting "credible reports" says at least four people have been killed, three of them in western Jefferson County and one in the Birmingham area. The Birmingham TV station also reports "significant injuries."
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/01/report-loss-of-life-major-damage-from-alabama-tornado/1


I live further southwest of the area, but "got to" be up from 2 to 4 am because of the dog, who gets pretty nervous when these storms come rolling in.

Glad your dog woke you up, just in case.

It seems to be a tornado magnet.

then these bands move east, so they hit the same places every time.
Sorta like sweeping your arm at an angle across a table top.
I deliberately chose the town I am in after realizing what the storm track is "normally",
we are south of the worst of the tornado alley and north of the "usual" hurricane hits.

Best laid plans go astray, of course;tornadoes hit this street during Hurricane Ivan in 2004, which landed almost directly on our town.
We still do not have any tall straight trees.

All were in the town of Fordyce. Many homes were damaged or destroyed, but no one was hurt.

http://nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=301662