Almost no action in Alabama this evening. A few small showers developed late this afternoon over North Central Alabama. Most have dissipated.
This evening a long row of Severe Thunderstorm Watches (a chain of five of them all connected) extended all the way from NE Texas and SE Oklahoma all the way to Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
A Tornado Watch covers SE New Mexico and part of West Texas.
OUTLOOK SATURDAY
SPC has a slight risk over West Texas. A separate slight risk area covers almost all of Tennessee. In fact it edges southward to cover a small slice of Alabama near the Tennessee River.
STORM REPORTS TODAY
…103 reports of hail all along the long row of Severe Thunderstorm Watches. Most of those reports were for large hail including some the size of baseballs. This included a number of locations in Kentucky and Tennessee.
…One tornado report. It occurred three miles NW of Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico, in Lincoln County. A 53-foot trailer was flipped over. A 500-gallon diesel tank, weighing 1,000 pounds, was lifted 100 feet into the air.
Lincoln County was the hideout for the legendary Billy the Kid. I was writing a magazine story once about the ghost town of White Oaks, New Mexico. We visited there to photograph what was left. We were astounded to find one lone person that still lived there. He was a very elderly gentleman (102 years old he said) and he insisted that he fix us lunch. He cooked a meal for us and we had a long visit. He took us to what was left of an old, old saloon that Billy the Kid visited occasionally. He and Billy became friends! He had not seen anyone in a long time and he almost begged us to spend the night!
