Tornadoes/Severe weather season - and improvements to our weather channel

Look for the tornado debris signature

What an incredible day of severe weather yesterday (Tuesday). There were 31 tornado reports across 5 different states, and unfortunately, three fatalities. There were several tornadoes in Louisiana and if you look at the radar from 4:21 p.m. Tuesday, you can even see the tornado debris signature just west of Lake Pontchartrain. At one point, there were three waterspouts happening at the same time. I received this question from a viewer: 

I was wondering, does a water spout as it hits land and becomes a Tornado does it increase or decrease it's intensity because of the different temp of the water mass vs land mass. I know they talk about hurricanes loosing intensity as they come inland

The answer is yes! Waterspouts that move from the water to land DO become tornadoes and can increase in intensity. In fact, many of them do get stronger, which is just the opposite of hurricanes after reaching land. Those weaken as they move off the warmer water. 

Mobile home park in Convent, LA - photo courtesy FOX8NOLA

Assumption Parish - courtesy @ayee_its_erinn

We will likely find out the strength of the tornadoes today (Wednesday) as the damage crews go in and assign an EF number. Looks to me like some of the damage will be at least EF3 or maybe even EF4. 

It's not out of season for February tornadoes in the south. Take a look at the series of maps. Storm season ramps up along the Gulf Coast first, and then a month from now, it begins to shift farther west and north, reaching Kansas for April and May. We consider the month of April, May, AND June as the peak season in the Plains. Of course, severe weather can happen anytime.

We are excited to announce some changes are coming to our Always On Storm Team 12 weather channel on March 7th. This is an excellent source of weather information whenever you need it, and now the channel is getting a face-lift and we are incorporating some of the suggestions passed along to us over the years. 

What's Different?

1) Bigger radar picture on the left side

2) No longer having to wait until 2-3 a.m. for the days of the week to change. It will happen at midnight.

3) More information coming through the bigger screen more frequently

4) Matching Future Track data from what we show on KWCH to what you'll see on Always On

5) Fresh look and new music!!