A second tornado outbreak is unfolding across the Deep South this afternoon as tornadic supercells form in the area where the Storm Prediction Center issued a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" ("PDS") Tornado Watch. PDS Tornado Watches are very rare and the extreme language is reserved for the most dangerous tornado outbreaks. The tornadoes that will form today have the potential to be intense, long-lived, wedge tornadoes.
Updates appear at the bottom of this diary in chronological order --oldest first, newest at the bottom.
A line of supercells is moving across central Mississippi at 2:00PM CDT, and almost all of the storms have tornado warnings on them. The threat for weather right now lies along and on either side of I-55.
The storms are in almost a perfect environment to produce violent, long-track tornadoes. By 7:00PM CDT, the Significant Tornado Parameter (STP) values will be between 5 and 7 in the area where the storms are located. STP values greater than 2 are sufficient for significant tornadoes, and anything greater than 5 is extremely dangerous.
For what it's worth, Dr. Greg Forbes' TOR:CON is 8/10 over the outbreak areas.
I won't be able to keep a running liveblog of the storm like I usually do simply due to the intense nature of the outbreak. I'm graduating in less than two weeks and I'm swamped with term papers and final exams right now, so I don't have enough time to keep up with the intensive nature of continuously updating diaries using DK4's platform.
Please keep up-to-date on the storms by visiting the Storm Prediction Center's website, as well as checking your local NWS office for warnings. I will be able to upload quick radar images to my Twitter feed, so that's the best place to find me and my updates today.
Stay safe.
I write for The Vane, which is a new weather website I launched with Gawker. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.
12:12 PM PT: Large, confirmed tornado moving into Yazoo City. Yazoo City was hit hard by a tornado back in 2010 -- that tornado was the first one I "liveblogged" here at DKos.
12:39 PM PT:
12:51 PM PT:
1:02 PM PT: Here's a radar image just after the large, wedge tornado moved through Tupelo. Major damage reported. Large debris ball on radar.
1:46 PM PT:
2:31 PM PT: Over at The Vane I just posted a full, high quality video of WTVA in Tupelo, MS evacuating to the basement during their tornado coverage earlier this afternoon. It's pretty intense.
2:43 PM PT:
2:57 PM PT: "TORNADO DAMAGE THREAT...CATASTROPHIC"
--Enhanced wording in the Tornado Emergency for Oktibbeha, Noxubee, and Winston Counties in Mississippi after a large, violent tornado did horrific damage in Louisville.
3:05 PM PT: Confirmed tornado with extremely strong rotation will come dangerously close to Athens, AL.
4:02 PM PT: ABC 33/40 in Birmingham AL reporting 3 fatalities as a result of the tornado near Athens, AL, which is west of Huntsville.
4:13 PM PT:
4:18 PM PT:
6:08 PM PT: