Lower Dixie
A few cities include: Birmingham, Jackson and Montgomery.
Terrain: Heavily forested.
Local tornado season: Most active in March, April and November.
Road network: Tends to be irregular. sparse in some areas.
Radar coverage: Good in central Mississippi, gaps in Alabama.
Tornado alley is not just in the Plains. Another tornado alley resides further east in Dixie (often known as Dixie Alley). In fact, Alabama and Mississippi have produced more long-track, significant tornadoes than just about any part of the Plains. Tornadoes in Dixie are often fast moving, sometimes in excess of 60 MPH. Such tornadic supercells are usually accompanied by low cloud bases and limited visibility.
Lower Dixie’s storm season is not just limited to the spring. Some major tornado events have also happened here during the fall and winter months. Large hail sometimes occurs with the strongest supercells, but tornadoes and damaging winds are the most common severe hazards here.
Terrain
Central and southern Alabama/Mississippi is a heavily forested region. In some areas, the forests are extremely dense. It is not uncommon to be within a mile or two of a tornado, but have no clear view of the tornado at all. This is largely due to a tendency for low cloud bases and trees obstructing view. Unless you plan on storm intercepting, storm chasing is usually difficult to just about impossible in Lower Dixie.
Storm damage further complicates matters in a forested area. With so many trees, all it takes is a strong wind gust to block a path for a storm chase and effectively end any ability to move forward. During a tornado outbreak, it is not an area you want to get stuck in if roads are blocked.
Road network
The road network is not very favorable for storm chasing either. Instead of a grid layout, roads tend to be curvy and irregular. Even with paved roads in a given area, if storms are moving at 50-60+ MPH, good luck keeping up. A few U.S. highways and interstates follow a relatively straight path, but that is not the case for the vast majority of the other roads. Even if a given roadway takes a path that follows a storm, since the terrain is so difficult, it might not make much of a difference.
There are several freeways across Lower Dixie, including I-10, I-20, I-55, I-59, I-65 and I-85. For storm chasing purposes, the best luck with chasing here may be to try to stick to interstate highways, where there will be at least some occasional clearings. Another option is to find an area that is not heavily forested and wait for storms to come to you.
Radar coverage
KDGX covers the vast majority of central Mississippi. KLIX and KMOB offer good coverage for most of southern Mississippi. Radar coverage coverage is limited from the Alabama/Mississippi border area into southwestern Alabama. Meanwhile, far southwestern Alabama is covered by KMOB.
Radar coverage in central and eastern Alabama is dense. Available sites are KBMX, KMXX and KEOX, offering multiple options, if one chooses to navigate through the forests here. KGWX also covers northern parts of the Lower Dixie zone.
In summary, while Lower Dixie is a hot spot for tornadoes, dense forests and inconsistent road networks make chasing extremely difficult here. To make matters worse, parts of western/southwestern Alabama have limited radar coverage. Throw in the likelihood for storm damage to block roads and it is not a place for beginners or those faint of heart to storm chase.