HURRICANE ZETA TO MAKE LANDFALL LATER TODAY; HIGH WIND, TORNADOES, POWER OUTAGES LOCALLY… Hurricane Zeta will make landfall later today in southeast Louisiana before moving northeast toward Mississippi, Alabama, and northwest Florida this evening. Power outages could become a significant issue in our local area due to all of the weakened trees caused by Hurricane Sally a few weeks ago. We are also concerned about a growing potential for tornadoes tonight into early Thursday. Please have a way to get urgent tornado warnings, including something that will wake you up tonight if you’re planning to go to sleep. We will have live video coverage tonight as needed on Facebook and in the RedZone Weather app. After Hurricane Zeta, we’re looking ahead to cooler, nicer conditions this weekend ahead of our coolest temperatures so far of this fall season. All of your Wednesday forecast details are below, including a detailed look at #Zeta impacts.
TIMING OF ZETA IMPACTS – THIS EVENING INTO EARLY THURSDAY… The timeframe for local impacts in south Alabama and northwest Florida from Zeta will happen from Noon today to Noon on Thursday with the greatest threat being from 7PM tonight to 2AM Thursday. Zeta will be long gone by 7AM tomorrow with most (if not all) impacts concluded by then.
POWER OUTAGES POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT… There is a very real chance that power outages may be more of a concern tonight compared to if Zeta were happening without all of the Hurricane Sally damage a few weeks ago. Many trees across the region were weakened or blown over by Sally, thus creating an opportunity for Zeta to “finish the job” and knock some of these weaker trees down. NOW is the time to make sure you have your cell phone charged with a battery backup device on hand to ensure you can have cell service. I would also recommend charging other electronics like tablets and computers so you can make sure you have some way to communicate with friends and relatives tomorrow if we wake up without power.
TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS POSSIBLE ACROSS ENTIRE REGION… A Tropical Storm Warning continues for all parts of southwest Alabama and northwest Florida in areas west of Destin and Crestview. This means that sustained winds in excess of 39 mph may happen overnight as the core of Zeta moves by. Because of this threat of high wind, please plan to get somewhere safe this evening and hang out there until the Zeta threat ends early tomorrow (Thursday) morning.
TORNADO RISK FOR ENTIRE REGION… The entirety of south Alabama and northwest Florida (both coastal and inland counties) have an increasing risk of tornadoes today into tonight as the core of Zeta approaches from the south. The tornado risk will likely start first around the Alabama and northwest Florida coastline and gradually spread eastward and inland later this evening. Tropical tornadoes generally do not last long, but they can cause localized areas of damage and still are very serious in some cases. If we have tornado warnings at any point over the next few days, be sure to join us in our live video coverage that will remain on the air as long as the warning is in effect. redzoneweather.com/coverage outlines our tornado warning coverage commitment in great detail. The Storm Prediction Center has included basically all of our local area in their Levels 1 and 2 (out of 5) tornado risk zones. The tornado risk should end early tomorrow (Thursday) morning.
TROPICAL STORM WARNING CONTINUES FOR ALL OF LOCAL AREA… The entire local area in southwest Alabama and northwest Florida remains involved in a Tropical Storm Warning as of 7AM on Wednesday. This means that tropical storm force (39+ mph) will be possible this evening and into the overnight hours as Zeta passes right over the western part of our area. All preparations should be complete at this point or ASAP this morning.
HURRICANE WARNING TO OUR SOUTHEAST… A Hurricane Warning continues on this Wednesday for much of eastern Louisiana and coastal Mississippi. The Hurricane Warning includes Biloxi, Pascagoula, Pass Christian, Bay Saint Louis, and all of metro New Orleans.
STORM SURGE WARNING WEST OF NAVARRE, FL… A Storm Surge Warning continues for all parts of the coastline of Santa Rosa, Escambia (FL), Baldwin, and Mobile counties. The latest peak surge graphic from the National Hurricane Center highlights the potential for 5 to 8 feet of storm surge near Dauphin Island and points west along the Mississippi and eastern Louisiana coastline. 3 to 5 feet of storm surge is currently forecast for Mobile Bay and areas near the Alabama beaches. 2 to 4 feet of storm surge is expected for Pensacola Bay, East Bay, Perdido Key, Pensacola Beach, and Navarre.
MINOR STORM SURGE TO THE EAST… Minor storm surge of 1 to 3 feet is expected in Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Choctawhatchee Bay, Miramar Beach, Santa Rosa Beach, Seaside, and farther southeast along the Florida Panhandle coastline, including Panama City, Mexico Beach, Port St. Joe, Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, Apalachicola, and the Big Bend region.
RAIN AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES EXPECTED… Most spots across south Alabama and northwest Florida will pick up 2 to 4 inches of rainfall with the greatest amounts likely happening in west Alabama. Some spots on the eastern side of our region very well may not have one inch of rain in total. This will help to significantly lower the overall risk of flash flooding (and ultimately river and creek flooding, which is not expected to happen!) from Zeta.
GREATEST RISK OF FLASH FLOODING OVER WEST ALABAMA… There could be a few areas across the entirety of the local area that have flash flooding Wednesday night into Thursday morning but I think the greatest chance of having widespread flash flooding issues will happen across southwest Alabama in Washington, Mobile, and Clarke counties. These are the 3 counties that are most likely to pick up in excess of 4 inches of rainfall in total. If you encounter a water-covered roadway, both in this event with Zeta or in the future, “turn around, don’t drown.” We lose way too many folks across America each year to this totally preventable death.
COLD FRONT MOVES BY TOMORROW; NICE WEEKEND… Cooler air will surge into the region tomorrow (Thursday) evening as a cold front moves across the area. High temperatures on Friday may struggle to get to the 70 degree mark in many of our inland areas in south Alabama. Overnight lows this weekend on both Saturday morning and Sunday morning will be in the lower-50s. Picture perfect weather is ahead for the weekend. Highs will be in the low- to mid-70s on Saturday and on Sunday. Mostly skies are expected each day.
COLD NIGHTS AHEAD NEXT WEEK… A second cold front will move across our region on Sunday night, meaning high temperatures on Monday will only be in the mid- to upper-60s. Overnight lows by Tuesday morning will be the coolest morning of the fall season so far with some spots potentially dipping to around 42 degrees. We rebound into the 70s for highs for Election Day Tuesday ahead with sunny skies expected through Wednesday.
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!
APP ALERTS… We send quite a bit of Low-Level Alerts in our RedZone Weather app. The app is totally free for you! redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you see the download links to your respective app store for iOS and for Android devices. Once you have the app downloaded to your smartphone or tablet device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
NEXT UPDATE… Our plan of action for this evening and tonight is to be on standby for tornado warnings until the threat from Zeta passes. My next live video update will happen this evening around 7:30PM unless tornado warning coverage is needed before that. Later this evening, we will have live video coverage as needed when the core of Zeta is passing across our area. When we are not in live video coverage, be sure to check the RedZone Weather app for the very latest information.
Have a nice Wednesday and stay safe tonight!