UPDATED as of 7:28AM… The convective outlook has been updated to drop the Level 1 risk. All areas in west and central Alabama are now in the “general thunderstorm” zone. See more details below…
RAIN/STORMS POSSIBLE TODAY ACROSS WEST ALABAMA… Most locales to the east of Interstate 65 will be completely dry today and tonight, while areas to the west of I-65 could have rain, storms, and perhaps even a stronger storm or two. The Storm Prediction Center had much of Clarke, Washington, Choctaw, and Marengo counties included in their Level 1 (out of 5) “marginal” risk to potentially see a few stronger storms that could produce brief damaging wind gusts, but that risk zone has been dropped. The good news is that the tornado risk across Alabama and northwest Florida today remains VERY low. Here are the different zone forecasts for today…
SHOWERS/STORMS IN WEST/CENTRAL ALABAMA… While the Storm Prediction Center had portions of Clarke, Choctaw, and Washington counties included in their Level 1 “marginal” risk zone, that has since been dropped as of their latest update. This means the overall risk of severe weather remains LOW even in these areas. The marginal risk was in place because of this, not because of a heightened tornado risk. If you’re in Thomasville, Chatom, Millry, Coffeeville, Silas, Gilbertown, Butler (city, not county), Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Gordo, Jasper, Cullman, Fayette, or Oneonta, I would advise you to keep tabs on the radar to monitor the progress of the showers/storms. You can keep tabs on the radar here in the RedZone Weather app in the Interactive Radar area (second tab on bottom area of app).
TIMING FOR STORMS TODAY… Again, the risk of rain and storms happens across west Alabama today. 10AM to 4PM will be when rain chances are highest. Rain chances decrease this evening across the region.
SOUTH/EAST OF I-65… This forecast is for places like Brewton, Evergreen, Flomaton, Atmore, Greenville, Andalusia, Opp, Florala, Bay Minette, Spanish Fort, Daphne, Foley, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, all of the Wiregrass region, and all of northwest Florida, including Pensacola, Milton, Pace, Jay, Century, Crestview, and Destin. Much of this area will be DRY throughout the day and into tonight. The atmosphere at the mid- and low-levels remains much drier compared to areas to the west. We’ll call it partly to mostly cloudy skies, with some sunshine in the mix. Could there be a shower later today? Yes, but the rain is more likely to happen to the west of these areas. High temperatures peak this afternoon around 85°.
PLENTY OF SUNSHINE AFTER TODAY… Another slew of nice, sunny, warm days are ahead, starting on Sunday. Earlier indications pointed to a rain chance for Sunday, but that has been drastically lowered. Models point to sunny skies for Sunday through Friday of the upcoming week with high temperatures in the 80s and lows near 60° each morning.
Have a great Saturday! Enjoy the day!