Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 5:13PM

Possible Alabama chase - (no go)

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

At 4:47 I posted: We're getting ready to pull the trigger on another November chase, this time in Alabama. That's a long drive, so I'm going over the available data to be sure this will be worthwhile. The point of no return is going to be around 5PM, as I don't want to start out on the 11 hour drive later than that.

And, like clockwork, once again as another major severe weather outbreak begins, the StormTrack site suffers another total outage. The site's been down all day today. Time for them to get a new web host.

5:13PM update: I couldn't talk myself into giving this one the green light. After a quick prayer and a perusal of data, I decided this one is just too far away and the tornado setup too conditional. Too much potential for it to be a big squall line fest. I am sure there will be tornadoes down there tomorrow, but for another 1,700 miles on the car and $350 in gas and hotels, the bust cost is too high if we come home empty handed. The terrain and trees in Alabama didn't really affect my decision. With WxWorx and a good outbreak setup, terrain isn't much of an obstacle if you get your initial target right. Furthermore, I've traveled in Alabama before - and while the trees abound, there are plenty of breaks and fields to make it doable.

So what now? Thanks to the recent discovery of cold-core tornado patterns, I'm eyeing the central-western Kentucky region tomorrow for this possibility. That's closer to home, something where I can justify a little 3-hour drive across the state line. Better yet, I can get some rest tonight and revisit that target in the morning with plenty of time to spare. We may have our hands full here in WV with flooding and snow in the next couple of days anyway.