The outbreak of 199 tornadoes on 27 April 2011, the most significant since the dawn of reliable records, was generated by parent storm systems ranging from quasi-linear convective systems to long-lived discrete supercell storms.

The Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain Plateaus in northeastern Alabama have been established as a regional relative maximum in tornadogenesis reports within the southeastern United States. Investigation of long-term surface datasets has revealed (i) stronger and more backed winds atop Sand Mountain than over the Tennessee Valley, and (ii) measured cloud-base heights are lower to the surface atop Sand Mountain than over the Tennessee Valley. These observations suggest that low-level wind shear and lifting condensation level (LCL) height changes may lead to conditions more favorable for tornadogenesis atop the plateaus than over the Tennessee Valley. However, prior to fall 2016, no intensive observations had been made to further investigate low-level flow or thermodynamic changes in the topography of northeastern Alabama. This paper provides detailed analysis of observations gathered during VORTEX-SE field campaign cases from fall 2016 through spring 2019. These observations indicate that downslope winds form along the northwest edge of Sand Mountain in at least some severe storm environments in northeastern Alabama. Wind profiles gathered across northeastern Alabama indicate that low-level helicity changes can be substantial over small distances across different areas of the topographic system. LCL height changes often scale to changes in land elevation, which can be on the order of 200–300 m across northeastern Alabama.

Cold season tornadic outbreaks occur with regularity in the southeastern United States; however, detailed analyses of parent supercell storms in the cold season environment (often low CAPE, high shear) are scarce. This is often because storms do not always move close enough to radars for a comprehensive single-Doppler analysis and significant topography or trees in the Southeast make it difficult for mobile radars to operate, thus limiting dual-Doppler coverage. However, during the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak of 5–6 February 2008, two tornadic supercell storms passed within 30–40 km of the Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) sites in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee (KNQA and KOHX, respectively). The relative steadiness of these storms during passage, along with the large motion vector (from the southwest at 20–25 m s−1), allowed the application of a synthetic dual-Doppler (SDD) analysis. As such, a detailed analysis of these storms was completed, including examinations of low-level circulations, updraft strength and location, as well as retrievals and evaluations of perturbation pressure and the vertical pressure gradient. This study presents one of the first comprehensive analyses of cold season supercells using only one Doppler radar. Additionally, the relative success and failures of using the SDD technique on supercell storms are discussed. Major findings for the primary case include the updraft maximizing at a very low height (3.0 km AGL), and weak pressure forcing within the rear flank resulting in a nonexistent rear-flank downdraft (RFD).

On 4 June 2013, a military chaff release occurred near Huntsville, Alabama, within the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) mesoscale network. This event was unusual because the chaff remained in the atmosphere-maintaining a radar echo on nearby weather radars-for nearly 10 h after the initial release. This paper examines the radar evolution of the chaff event, supplemented by environmental observations using the UAH profiling equipment. Additionally, unique operational considerations faced by the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Huntsville are addressed.

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