FEW STRONG STORMS POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY; TORNADO RISK LOW BUT NOT ZERO… Rain is set to finally return to our forecast on Wednesday, but along with that chance comes a risk of a few stronger thunderstorms. The main concern in any thunderstorms that can become strong or even marginally severe will be gusty winds capable of knocking down a few trees. The tornado risk is very low on Wednesday, but for inland areas, the tornado risk is not zero. The main risk of stronger storms will happen on Wednesday afternoon into the early evening hours. Rain totals with this event will generally be quite low, with most locales picking up less than one half inch of rain in total. The bigger rain event is slated to happen this weekend as another cold front approaches our area.
LEVEL 1 (OUT OF 5) RISK ZONE FOR INLAND AREAS… The Storm Prediction Center has included several of our inland communities in their low-end, Level 1 (out of 5) severe weather risk zone valid for Wednesday. Right now, parts of Clarke, Monroe, Butler, Washington, Choctaw, Wilcox counties, and areas to the north are included in this low-end risk zone. That includes Thomasville, Grove Hill, Jackson, Coffeeville, Chatom, Millry, Wagerville, Silas, Toxey, Gilbertown, Butler, Camden, Sweet Water, Pine Hill, Forest Home, and points north and west. The remainder of our local area is involved in the “general thunderstorms” zone where widespread severe weather is not expected on Wednesday.
SLIGHTLY INCREASED RISK FOR PARTS OF CENTRAL & NORTH ALABAMA… The greater dynamics and perhaps better combination of shear and instability is set to happen well to our north across parts of north and central Alabama along with parts of Tennessee. A squall line may develop across parts of northern Mississippi and western Tennessee and push eastward into the northern half of Alabama in the afternoon or evening hours. These are the areas that have the slightly higher risk of seeing damaging straight line winds and a tornado or two.
WHAT TO EXPECT – WEDNESDAY… Around sunrise on Wednesday, there could be a few small showers developing close to the Alabama and northwest Florida beaches. These areas of rain will gradually spread inland tomorrow morning. Scattered showers and storms will increase in coverage throughout the day. The low-end risk of a few stronger storms will happen in the afternoon and early evening hours.
THANKSGIVING DAY FORECAST… Thursday will be mostly dry across the region with mostly cloudy skies in place. Rain chances on Thanksgiving Day will be around 20%, meaning most of our area should remain dry. There also is a small chance of a few thunderstorms on Thanksgiving Day, but again, most spots will remain dry throughout the day. Severe weather is not expected on Thursday or on Friday. Temperatures will be quite mild for Thanksgiving with most spots peaking in the upper-70s.
SET UP 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.
My next forecast video update will be posted by 7:15AM tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. See you then!