ALBERTO WILL MAKE LANDFALL THIS AFTERNOON… The center of Subtropical Storm Alberto is poised to come ashore in Bay, Walton, or Okaloosa counties over the next 3-5 hours. Light to moderate rain has been happening across Okaloosa, Covington, and Walton counties over the last hour or so. The good news at this point is we can definitively say the overall risks for our local area are much lower, but still not zero. Several changes to discuss on this Memorial Day Monday…
We honor the brave men and women who gave their lives for our freedom on this Memorial Day. May God continue to bless the United States!
RADAR UPDATE… Pockets of heavy rain have been happening near Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Seaside, Niceville, Crestview, Geneva, Opp, and Florala over the last hour or so. Rain will continue to spread northwest into much of our local area this afternoon. The center of Alberto is clearly visible on the Eglin AFB radar.
ISOLATED TORNADOES POSSIBLE OVER EAST ALABAMA… The tornado risk for south Alabama and northwest Florida remains very low. There will be a low-end risk of brief, spin-up tornadoes in east Alabama today. We note the Storm Prediction Center has a Level 2 “slight” risk for tornadoes in place for Dothan, Enterprise, Troy, Union Springs, Tuskegee, Auburn, Eufaula, Phenix City, and surrounding areas. We’ll bring you updates about tornado warnings in east Alabama in the RedZone Weather app this afternoon/evening.
LANDFALL IMMINENT NEAR ROSEMARY BEACH… It’s now clear that the center of Alberto will cross the Florida coast likely in Bay or Walton counties. There’s a slim chance that Alberto could veer to the left slightly and make landfall near Destin in Okaloosa County, but the official landfall point looks most likely near Seaside or Rosemary Beach. This is a moot point, however, as impacts/heavy rain extend well beyond the center point.
TROPICAL STORM WARNING UPDATE… The Tropical Storm Warning continues for Escambia (AL), Covington, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, and Houston counties. Mobile, Baldwin, and Henry counties have been cancelled out of the tropical storm warning. In northwest Florida, Escambia (FL), Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington (FL), Jackson (FL), Calhoun (FL), Bay, and Gulf counties remain included in the Tropical Storm Warning, where winds could gust up to 40mph.
FLASH FLOOD WATCH… It’s now clear that flash flooding issues will be limited to the far eastern side of our local area. Andalusia, Opp, Florala, Greenville, Georgiana, Luverne, Destin, Niceville, Crestview and communities to the east have a continuing elevated risk of flash flooding as the core of Alberto moves by. Extended hours of heavy rain and flash flooding look increasingly UNLIKELY for Brewton, Evergreen, Milton, and points WEST. Good news! A Flash Flood Watch continues for much of our region, although NWS Mobile has cancelled Mobile and Washington counties out of the Flash Flood Watch.
RAIN LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON… Again, I’m feeling much better about the overall impact risk, but we’re not at an “all clear point” just yet. The core of Alberto is about to move by, meaning heavy rain and gusty winds will be possible, especially in our northwest Florida communities. Have a way to get the warnings if any are required for our local area. Okaloosa and Covington counties are the places where warnings are most likely to happen in our primary coverage area today, but even there, the risk is low.
APP… I’ve probably said this so much over the past few days that you’re sick of hearing it, but if you haven’t already, please set up the custom alerts you’d like to receive from me by tapping the Alerts tab (lower right corner) here in the RZWeather app by tapping the large, yellow “Alert Settings” button.
Have a good afternoon! I’ll let you know when landfall happens.