HIGH-LEVEL ALERT
A TORNADO OUTBREAK IS ABOUT TO BEGIN – HAVE A WAY TO GET WARNINGS!… The Storm Prediction Center has expanded the Level 5 (out of 5) high risk zone to now include more of Alabama and central Mississippi. In addition, a Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch is now in effect for many counties in west-central Alabama until 7PM. This PDS Tornado Watch includes all parts of Clarke and Washington counties in west Alabama. Over the next few hours, we will be watching developing thunderstorms that could quickly become tornado-producing storms. This first round of storms will start in east Mississippi and west Alabama.
WHAT TO EXPECT LOCALLY – NEXT FEW HOURS… Please keep in mind that there is a real chance that vast majority of us across south Alabama and northwest Florida will have mostly cloudy skies (maybe a few peeks of sunshine!) over the next few hours. Our local risk of severe storms will ramp up a bit later in most spots. Tonight, an organized line of storms will move across our region from west to east. The main line of storms will likely produce tornadoes and damaging winds.
TORNADO OUTBREAK IN THE HOURS AHEAD… The Storm Prediction Center added Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Demopolis, Butler, Livingston, Marion, and surrounding areas into their very rare, Level 5 (out of 5) high risk zone where the tornado outbreak is expected to be at its worst today. Folks in central and west Alabama should stay glued to the latest information as violent, large tornadoes will be possible in the hours ahead!
FIRST TORNADO WARNING IN WEST ALABAMA… Just in as of 12:17PM, we have the first tornado warning of the day for parts of southwestern Choctaw County, including areas near Gilbertown, Silas, and Toxey. A Tornado Warning has also just been issued for Selma and parts of Dallas County in south-central Alabama. More warnings just like this are expected in the hours ahead.
SET UP SPECIFIC 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.
We will go into live video coverage in the hours ahead when/if a tornado warning becomes required for any part of our local area.