Winter tornadoes are especially treacherous

The powerful line of thunderstorms plowing its way eastward toward the Charlotte region Wednesday afternoon is carrying a real threat to lives and property.

Any doubts about that were dispelled about 11 a.m., when a tornado barreled through Adairsville, Ga., a town north of Atlanta on Interstate 75.

According to early reports, the funnel cloud damaged a McDonalds restaurant and blew dozens of vehicles off nearby I-75.

The timing of this storm system could make it especially treacherous in the Charlotte region.

A few things to remember about these unusual winter severe weather outbreaks:

-- Many of these storms are low-topped.  That is, the cloud tops don't stretch 50,000 or 60,000 feet into the atmosphere, as is the case during warm-weather seasons.  The tops of these storms can be much lower.

-- Because of those low tops, these storms often contain no lightning.  They can roar into an area with little warning, causing considerable wind damage.

-- Because of the atmospheric conditions in these winter severe weather outbreaks, the storms often don't weaken when the sun sets. Overnight storms can remain quite strong, as was the case early Wednesday across Tennessee and Kentucky.

We'll keep you updated on developments during the afternoon and evening.  One trend to watch for is the development of what meteorologists call "discrete" storm cells.  These storms form ahead of the main squall line, and they are often responsible for tornadoes.  There are signs of these discrete cells forming Wednesday afternoon over Georgia, moving east-northeast.