HEAVY RAIN AT TIMES TODAY, ESPECIALLY OVER WEST ALABAMA… Rain and storms are likely today across south Alabama and northwest Florida. The greatest chance of rain will happen over western stretches of Alabama, primarily west of the Alabama River, where periods of heavy rain may happen. There could be isolated flash flooding issues later today across parts of Clarke, Mobile, Washington, and Choctaw counties in west Alabama. There also is a very low-end risk of a few strong to marginally severe storms thus afternoon into the evening hours. This low-end risk will happen primarily in coastal counties closer to the coast. While this won’t be a widespread severe weather outbreak, we encourage everyone to have a way to keep tabs on the radar throughout the day and a way to get warnings in case any are required. Saturday will feature quite a bit of rain before we dry out somewhat on Sunday. This video is being produced on my laptop as opposed to our normal studio as I will be working remotely through early next week. Let’s look at details…
LOW-END RISK OF STRONG STORMS LATER TODAY… There is a very low chance of a few strong to marginally severe thunderstorms across our region, but particularly closer to the coast where instability values will be highest. Any storms that are able to ramp up to strong or severe levels will have the capability to produce gusty winds or perhaps a brief tornado. The overall tornado risk for any given locale remains exceedingly low, however. As always, even though I’m working remotely, we will provide uninterrupted tornado warning coverage if needed today!
LATEST ON INVEST 97L IN THE GULF… The National Hurricane Center maintains a high (70-80%) chance that a weak tropical storm or subtropical storm may form in the west-central Gulf of Mexico today. This system will remain weak as it drifts northward toward the Louisiana coast. NHC suggests the system may briefly become tropical or subtropical before merging with a front on Saturday. This will be a contributing factor to the heavy rain we have at times today and tomorrow. Other than that, I am not expecting significant impacts at this time because of this tropical feature. The next tropical cyclone name on the list is “Olga.”
MORE RAIN IS LIKELY ON SATURDAY… Unfortunately, there is no way to pinpoint exactly when and where rain will be happening on Saturday, but we can say confidently there is a high (60-80%) chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms on Saturday. There will be some instability involved in this air mass (especially closer to the coast), so I can’t rule out lightning and thunder throughout the day. I’m not expecting all day storms but there could be storms around at times. Widespread severe weather is not expected.
DRIER FOR SUNDAY INTO MONDAY… We will need to maintain a LOW rain chance on Sunday into Monday as a stalled frontal boundary provides the focus for a few showers. Rain chances will be in the 10-20% range Sunday into Monday. The area will be much drier overall compared to the first half of the weekend! High temperatures will consistently be in the mid-70s with overnight lows in the 50s.
UNSETTLED WEATHER INTO NEXT WEEK… Our next cold front is set to move through on Thursday of the upcoming week. Before we get there, rain could happen Tuesday evening, Wednesday, and on Thursday.
APP… redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you can download the free RedZone Weather app. Once you have the app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner) then tap the large, yellow Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
See all the graphics and details in this remote edition of the #rzw forecast video…