re: Friday weather thread. Tornado watches everywhere, warnings, too

Lot of small cells firing in southern Arkansas and western La/east Tx now

A little convection in NE Louisiana too to keep an eye on

Cell SW of Memphis is looking rough again.

The picture of what was Wynne High School is the exact reason school is canceled at the chance of bad weather. It almost never happens. Imagine if this happened during the school day with all kids inside.

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don't trust that storm. Still a PDS warning with a confirmed tornado. Big hail, too.

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It’s in a ripe environment glad I didn’t go spend this weekend at gold strike Casino in tunica

PDS warning for storm entering Tunica county and eventually Desoto

First tornado I’ve ever seen in person. I have family living in three clusters between West LR, Midtown and Cantrell. It somehow split all of them with about 2 blocks to spare on each side.

Cell south of Shreveport could be trouble soon

Any idea of the current count of tornado warnings today?

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Can you explain how and what causes it to ramp up to be so dangerous?

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A variety of factors such as humidity, wind sheer, instability, and lift.

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It just went throughout my town and was really weak.

Can you explain how and what causes it to ramp up to be so dangerous?

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It often comes down to mesoscale features. Last week's storms didn't ramp up until the low level jet (winds at the 850mb level) picked up. When those winds got stronger it amplified the low and mid level shear and helped the storm wrap up its meso, putting down a tornado.

Sometimes it takes a storm moving into an area with more favorable dynamics, like moisture or instability. Sometimes a storm will interact with a boundary, such as outflow from earlier storms. Storms can merge with other storms, often multiple times before they can get going.

Different things can take a storm from just broad rotation to a tornado, and that process can often happen within a span of tens of miles or less.