TORNADO WATCH TILL 5PM… If you’re in Baldwin, Mobile, Escambia (FL), Santa Rosa, or Okaloosa counties, you are now involved in a Tornado Watch until 5PM CDT. The atmosphere is somewhat unstable across coastal areas and to our west across Mississippi and Louisiana. While I am not expecting widespread severe weather issues today, a brief, tornado or two will be possible in the stronger storms. The big headline today will continue to be the major rain event that is set to continue into the weekend. 3-7″ of rain will be likely across the region with isolated higher amounts.
RADAR UPDATE… Strong thunderstorms are rolling through parts of our local coastal counties as of 1:15PM. There is no active tornado threat at the moment as all storms remain under severe limits. We have observed some cloud-to-ground lightning near Pensacola, Foley, Elberta, and Orange Beach over the last 15 minutes, however. Rain is generally lighter across inland areas. More showers and storms will continue to filter in from Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico over the next few hours. I’ll have radar updates throughout the afternoon into this evening.
TORNADO WARNING COVERAGE JUST CONCLUDED… We just finished a round of tornado warning coverage for a storm that produced a large waterspout/tornado over water southwest of Weeks Bay in Mobile Bay. Much of south-central Baldwin County was included in the active tornado warning from 11:55AM to 12:30PM. Be sure to scroll down and see the 11:55AM post if you want to see the tornado warning coverage. That warning has now expired since the storm weakened, although it’s a good representative of what could happen over the next few hours. MOST of us will NOT have severe weather issues, although an isolated, brief tornado or two can’t be ruled out.
TORNADO WARNING POLICY… Anytime we have an active tornado warning for any part of south Alabama and northwest Florida, we provide uninterrupted live video coverage on Facebook Live and in the Live tab of the RedZone Weather app. If you see a tweet or other notification from me about a tornado warning for our local area, always be sure to check Facebook Live or the Live tab to watch our live streaming coverage.