ALL CLEAR! WILD MORNING OF SEVERE STORMS IS OVER… I can give an ALL CLEAR to southwest Alabama and northwest Florida (in communities west of Destin). The severe weather risk is now over and the tornado watch has been cancelled for our local area. Rain and general thunderstorms (below severe limits) will continue over the next 2-3 hours. You may still hear some very startling claps of thunder! Rain will come to an end by 1PM, if not earlier, across our region. We’ll be drying out this afternoon ahead of a drier Sunday and Monday ahead. Several flash flood warnings continue across coastal counties over the next few hours. If you encounter a water-covered roadway, please “turn around, don’t drown.”
HAIL DAMAGE NEAR ORANGE BEACH… The hail damage that happened due to a discrete, isolated, supercell thunderstorm that moved ashore near Orange Beach and Gulf Shores is jaw-dropping. I have seen numerous photos showing vehicle windshields shattered with photos of up to baseball size hail. Thank you to everyone who shared photos of the hail not only in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, but across the region. Many communities had hail in the storms this morning!
WIND DAMAGE IN MONROE & CLARKE COUNTIES… Several homes have been damaged near Thomasville. Emergency management teams report numerous trees down across Clarke and Monroe counties in southwest Alabama. Residents are encouraged to stay off the roads if possible in those counties as crews continue to assess damage. Please stay away from ANY downed power line that you encounter!
RAIN TO CONTINUE OVER NEXT FEW HOURS… Despite the severe weather threat ending locally, rain and occasional lightning and thunder will continue over the next few hours. We continue to experience loud thunder at our studio location in Brewton even as I type this update around 8:40AM. I expect rain and storms to be out of our region by 1PM at the latest. This evening will be much drier. Some spots may even have some sunshine before the end of the day.
THANKS FOR THE PHOTOS & REPORTS… I *greatly* appreciate everyone who sent in photos, videos, and “ground truth” reports earlier this morning during and after our long round of severe weather coverage. Thank you also for watching our coverage! I know you have a choice when it comes to severe weather coverage. I appreciate you choosing us and choosing our wonderful RedZone Weather sponsors, who make our coverage possible on good weather days and more importantly, on bad weather days.
Have a nice Saturday!