cool tornado pictures...

Surfing around the internet I found some kinda cool webcams that show what went on right before and after the tornado earlier this month. While you do not see the tornado itself you can see come pretty cool things.

There are two in particular that you should check out. I will post the pictures I am talking about, but the actual program enables you to zoom in etc so you might want to go to this website...

-Click on the one for The Atlantic (a new condo tower in Atlantic Station)
-Adjust the date back to Friday, March 14th
-Click on the 9:39 and 9:55 images and notice how the crane (red) completely spins around as the storm passes!!!




Next...

-Click on the one for Allen Plaza
-Adjust the date back to Friday, March 14th
-Click on the 9:33 and 9:57 images and notice how the lights go out and you can see where the hole is in the dome!




I hope you enjoyed the nice weather over the past few days. The weekend is looking a little cool and damp.


--Chris

when did spring start???

Although spring technically began last Thursday it appears old man winter is not done with us yet!!

Very cold temperatures filtered into northern Georgia this morning and this afternoon. There was just enough moisture to squeeze out a little bit of snow! While most of us saw some snow flurries there was actually a little dusting well up into the mountains as you can see in the pictures above and below. These pictures were sent in by Tammy Kinman up in Blue Ridge. Thanks Tammy!

The cold weather won't last past Tuesday morning as highs will be in the 60s Tuesday with 70s by Wednesday & Thursday.


--Chris

flower pictures...

Hey guys, just a reminder that we have a section on our website where you can upload your spring flower pictures. I snapped the above picture, with my cell phone, of a Japanese Magnolia just outside the TV station.

You can upload your picture here. Can't wait to see them and we might even show some on the news!


--Chris

hail galore...

Although the tornadoes certainly got the headlines, we received tremendous reports of hail across the metro area last weekend. Check out this video that Ed Hubbard in Gwinnett County uploaded to CBS46.com. Notice how quickly the hail begins to accumulate. The other interesting thing was that we had reports of hail as big as baseballs in a few places. That is nearly unheard of here in the southeastern U.S. and much more common in the in the plains states.

Hail is often confused with sleet and vice versa. While rain freezes on the way to the ground and becomes sleet. Hail forms by water being carried way up inside of a thunderstorm where it freezes. It then is unable to melt before it hits the ground. One of the best explainers as to how hail forms is on USAToday.com.

Each time a hail stone us carried up by an updraft inside of a thunderstorm the hailstone collects more water and re-freezes causing it to get bigger. Technically, you can cut open a hail stone and count the number of rings inside which will tell you how many times the hail has gone up and down inside of the thunderstorm.

Lets hope it is a while before we have any weather like last weekend. Right now the forecast looks dry for much of the work week ahead.


--Chris

Atlanta tornado postmortem...

The National Weather Service has posted its postmortem on the tornado from the tornado last Friday night. Included is the above map showing there damage occurred and and how intense the tornado was when it passed over an area.

You can read more here.


--Chris

Tornado Damage Pictures...

I was in downtown last night and snapped a few pictures down by the park. It is amazing to see all the damage. Notice on the Westin and the GP buildings how most of the broken windows were higher up on the building. The reason for this is because the winds were stronger the higher up on the tornado. Winds are slightly less toward the bottom of the tornado because of the friction with the Earth.

Enjoy and post if you have any questions...


--Chris

possible tornado sighting...

A friend of mine who was in the meteorology program with me at Florida State sent me this picture from Road Atlanta on Saturday. She said they had THREE different tornado sightings! She is going to send more pictures so hopefully I can share some of those soon!

The above picture is of a wall cloud producing a possible tornado.

--Chris

P.S. Here are a couple more pics I promised you. Not a lot of good places to take shelter during a storm at a race track. Also, check out the hail that came from the storm as it passed!!

a wild 24 hours....

Finally... some quiet weather after what was probably the wildest 24 hours of my career.

It all started Friday night when an EF-2 tornado moved right through the heart of Atlanta. The tornado touched down just West of the Georgia Dome and lifted back into the sky shortly after striking the Cabbagetown neighborhood in East Atlanta. To see all the broken windows in the skyscrapers, furniture in the streets, and see the water in the Georgia Dome was amazing.

Before we could regroup another round of storms moved through around 6am and then the big round of storms hit northern Georgia Saturday afternoon. Although Friday's storm has stolen the headlines, most of the damage and storm reports occurred on Saturday. So many of you viewers sent us pictures and video of the storm damage. If you have some pictures or video you want to share just log onto CBS46.com and upload yours!

I would be remiss if I did not thank all of my co-workers here at CBS46 for all their help and hard work in covering the storms. Because of all of their hard work I think we were able to help save lives. In the end, two people lost their lives Saturday, but when you look at the pictures of the damage, you know it could have been much, much worse.

The weather will be quiet through Tuesday.

Enjoy,


--Chris

in like a lion...

Although it took a few extra days... the beginning of March is finally beginning to live up to its 'lion-like' reputation!

Just as northern Georgia looked like it had avoided the severe weather on Friday a small storm developed shortly after 7pm Friday night and produced an EF-1 tornado with estimated winds near 110 mph. The storm moved through Douglas County causing damage to 50 homes, destroying 1 mobile home, and causing significant damage to a grocery store. To see video from the scene you can click here.


The storm developed along Hampton Mill Drive (4 miles SE of Douglasville) and started moving to the NE at 40 mph.

The storm tracked 7 miles with a maximum width of 100 yards. 110 mph winds puts it on the high end of and EF-1 on the new Enhanced Fujita scale.

The storm finally dissipated, after crossing I-20, along Vulcan Drive near Beaver Run Creek which is 5 miles E-NE of Douglasville.

Just as quickly as the severe weather moved out the cold weather moved in. Enough moisture lingered to cause snow flurries across the metro area. In the mountains a little more than an 1" of snow piled up in places. Thanks to Lola Jewell for sending the below pictures of her home near Ellijay.



Lets hope as we head toward mid-March that the weather will start acting a little more like a lamb!

Have a great week and enjoy the milder days ahead.


--Chris

drought update...

We have more good news as far as our drought situation here in Georgia. After a pretty wet February (4.61" at Hartsfield-Jackson) that was actually only .07" below normal we are hoping to continue the trend as we move into March.

In the below two images you can see that the part of the state in the exceptional part of the drought has shrunken quite a bit since the early part of February. Now only the extreme NW part of the state remains in the most severe part of drought.


Despite the better news as of late it is not time to celebrate just yet. As we mentioned last week, Lake Lanier remains extremely low and that is where much of our water in Atlanta comes from. So until Lanier begins to rebound more significantly we will be dealing with the harsh water restrictions for the foreseeable future.

More rain is in the forecast on Tuesday. The only problem is we may have some severe weather to deal with too. For the latest stay tuned to CBS46 on Sunday at 6:30pm and 11pm and Monday between 5-7am, Noon, 4pm, 6pm, & 11pm.


--Chris