UAMS Storm Chaser Division went active around 5pm yesterday, and remained active until 5am this morning. We joined a couple of TPD officers atop the hill at Woods N Water to try to gain a great vantage point of the entire city to watch for circulation. Though we saw very impressive lightning strikes and heavy downpours coupled with a max wind gust of 35MPH at our location, we saw no signs of rotation from our location. After the main squall line had passed, we made our way up Skyland BLVD to McFarland BLVD to get to Highway 43 to check on one of our members and his family. We went through a good 2-3foot deep pool of water underneath the University BLVD overpass over McFarland. Unfortunately, I didn't see it until we were in it, but all is well. Had I been going faster and not let the hydroplane ride itself out, I probably would not be writing this post right now. Just know that that area on McFarland is notorious for holding water, and you should avoid it at all costs after a heavy rain.
In other news, the cell that went through northern Tuscaloosa county ended up producing severe damage and fatalities/injuries in Jefferson county. At this moment, Jefferson County EMA has not called for additional search and rescue aid, so we'll be staying put for now until the call comes (hopefully it won't). All of this being said, last night was a prime example as to why it is of the utmost importance to have a NOAA Weather Radio/other means of receiving weather warnings during the overnight hours and an Emergency Plan of Action should the need arise. As I told UA Students who subscribe to our Weather Warning emails, if you purchase a NOAA weather radio, I will program it for you so that you will only receive alerts relevant to your location. Our Storm Chasing Division director pointed out one of his favorite smart phone apps (for the iPhone atleast) is known as "My Radar". The app is absolutely free and we found it to be pretty spot-on last night. If you would like to receive our emails only to alert you when severe weather is a risk for the UA Campus/Tuscaloosa metro area, please send us an email to bamauams@gmail.com and state that you'd like to receive the Weather Alerts, or follow us on Twitter!. Twitter is the best way to get updates from us when we're in the field as weather is occurring.
After last night, we have come up with the idea of sponsoring an Emergency Preparedness Workshop on campus to inform students of useful information in preparing for an emergency. I'm going to talk with some of our friends at the Tuscaloosa County EMA and see what we can work out, but we aim to have this program around the middle of March, just before storm season really ramps up in our area. Stay tuned for more details!
In other news, you can expect rather mild weather for the rest of the week with showers here and there basically everyday, with highs in the mid to upper 60s every day. Thursday is looking to be the next system that may potentially produce a severe weather threat. Although, the models at this time do not show anything worth getting worked up over, so we'll just have to let the week progress and see what happens.
We gained 25 followers last night on Twitter, which is fantastic! Like I mentioned before, Twitter is the best way to receive our weather updates during severe weather events.
If you're out and about on campus tomorrow, please stop by the Fergueson Center and see us! One of our Storm Spotter Trucks will be parked on the plaza and we'll have a table upstairs with information on how you can become involved with us!
Sub Divo!
PAR
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