Overview
- A rapidly intensifying supercell produced a strong tornado near Meadville, Mississippi on Wednesday evening, with SPC estimating 135–180 mph winds.
- The SPC kept the threat going overnight with Tornado Watch 189 for southern Mississippi and Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, then added Watch 190 early Thursday for southeast Alabama, southwest Georgia, and the central and eastern Panhandle.
- Forecasters tracked the storm east into Alabama with warnings that embedded supercells could still spin up strong tornadoes as low-level winds increased.
- Damaging straight-line winds up to 70 mph and large hail near 2 inches remained possible in the strongest storms, while the Weather Prediction Center flagged localized 2–3 inch downpours with isolated flash flooding where cells train.
- The setup features a southward-sliding cold front, very moist air, CAPE near 2000–3000 J/kg, and strong wind shear, a combination that favors discrete supercells early that can merge into lines overnight.