ISOLATED TORNADOES & DAMAGING WIND GUSTS LIKELY THURSDAY… A few tornadoes and damaging wind gusts will be the severe weather concerns on Thursday as a strong squall line/QLCS moves across our local area from west to east. There is a chance that a few discrete supercell thunderstorms may develop out ahead of the main line of storms, perhaps increasing the risk of a few tornadoes and large hail on Thursday during the daytime hours. In addition, heavy rain that could lead to isolated instances of flash flooding will be a concern. ALL modes of severe weather will be possible on Thursday in ALL locations of our primary coverage area in south Alabama and northwest Florida. You need to have a way to receive urgent weather alerts starting in the early morning hours. Let’s look at details…
SQUALL LINE SETTING UP TO OUR WEST… A significant (Level 3) risk of severe weather is in place for parts of southwest Mississippi, Louisiana, and east Texas this evening. We note that several tornado warnings have already happened in the eastern parts of Texas this evening. This is the same system that will be responsible for our severe weather risk on Thursday. No weather issues are expected for the rest of the evening, so if you’re out trick-or-treating, you’re okay with no big weather issues tonight. The potential issues will happen on Thursday.
TIMING OF STORMS… The greatest chance of isolated tornadoes/damaging straight line winds will happen between 5AM and 5PM in our local area with the core of the risk happening from 9AM to 2PM. There is a chance that a few storms may pop up out ahead of the main line of storms, and these discrete storms could be the primary tornado threat of the day. This means you have to be ready for severe weather as early as 5AM. Be ready to take action when/if a tornado or severe thunderstorm warning is issued for your respective area!
HAZARDS… Tornadoes will definitely be a concern, BUT damaging winds will be the main concern. There’s a chance that these damaging straight line winds in the squall line could be intense. I would not be surprised to see several reports of trees being downed across our region. Heavy rain will also happen as the line of storms moves by. In addition to this, because of the risk of the discrete supercell thunderstorms, there will be a threat of large hail as well. ALL modes of severe weather will be possible on Thursday!
TORNADO WARNING COVERAGE… Anytime there is a tornado warning in effect for southwest Alabama or northwest Florida, we are committed to bring you live streaming video and audio coverage in our RedZone Weather app and across our platforms. redzoneweather.com/coverage explains this in extreme detail.
APP ALERTS… Visit the Alerts tab in the bottom right corner of the RedZone Weather app and then tap the large, yellow “Alert Settings” button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
BETTER WEATHER LATE THURSDAY EVENING… Once the main (squall) line of storms moves through your specific area, the severe weather risk will end and I’ll be able to give you an “all clear.” Cooler, drier, more stable air will move in late on Thursday evening, paving the way for a gorgeous weekend.
CLOUDS FRIDAY; SUNNY SATURDAY & SUNDAY… Clouds will likely stick around for much of the day on Friday with high temperatures being stuck most likely in the mid- to upper-60s. Plenty of sunshine is expected for Saturday and for Sunday and high temps will rise into the 70s each day. Overnight lows at 6AM on Saturday could easily be near 40 degrees in some spots!
See more details in this special LIVE RedZone Weather severe weather update… Let me know if you have specific questions.