HURRICANE MARCO TO OUR SOUTH; LAURA STRENGTHENING NEAR CUBA… Hurricane Marco continues to move north across the central Gulf of Mexico. While the center of Marco will likely move northwest toward the Louisiana coastline, local impacts (including heavy rain and a few tornadoes) may happen as early as the daybreak hours of Monday. There is very little doubt that any impacts in south Alabama and northwest Florida are more likely to happen closer to the immediate coast. Regardless, it is a wise idea if you have a way to receive urgent weather warnings throughout the day on Monday. Heavy rain and breezy (15-25 mph) conditions will be possible overnight into Monday across the region. Flash flooding could become an issue locally if storms train over the same areas.

TIMING – POTENTIAL FOR TORNADOES LOCALLY… Isolated tornadoes will be possible across parts of south Alabama and northwest Florida from 7AM Monday to 1AM Tuesday. That is the 18 hour window when a few, brief tornadoes are most likely to happen locally as the core of Marco passes to our southwest. We encourage everyone to have a way to receive urgent tornado warnings on Monday into Monday night. You need something like a NOAA Weather Radio or smartphone app that is designed to wake you up. It is a good idea to visit your smartphone’s notification settings and make sure Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) are turned ON.

TORNADO WARNING POLICY… Any time there is an active tornado warning in effect for southwest Alabama or northwest Florida, we provide uninterrupted, live video coverage on Facebook Live and in the RedZone Weather app. Our detailed coverage commitment is outlined at redzoneweather.com/coverage. We are proud to cover all parts of Escambia (AL), Covington, Monroe, Conecuh, Baldwin, Mobile, Clarke, Washington, Butler, Escambia (FL), Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa counties. If you live in any locale in those counties, be sure to tune into our coverage whenever there is an active tornado warning!

TROPICAL STORM LAURA NEAR CUBA… The center of Tropical Storm Laura is very near Guantanamo Bay, Cuba this evening. Maximum winds have increased to near 65 mph. Laura will move very near the southern coastline of Cuba through tomorrow and emerge in the southeastern Gulf by Monday evening. Laura will likely become a hurricane in the Gulf and potentially become a major hurricane Tuesday or Wednesday. Rapid strengthening is not out of the question once Laura reaches the warm waters and favorable upper-level environment over the Gulf by Tuesday. The latest forecast from NHC continues to show Laura moving toward Louisiana.

SET UP APP ALERTS… If you haven’t already, be sure to download the free RedZone Weather app to keep up with all the latest information on the world of weather in south Alabama and northwest Florida. redzoneweather.com/app is the link for the free download. Once you have the app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner) and tap the large, yellow Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.

NEXT UPDATE… I will have a detailed video for you on Monday morning around 7:15AM *unless* we have tornado warnings overnight or early on Monday morning. In that case, we will go live and bring you uninterrupted severe weather coverage. Have a great Sunday evening!

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