DAMAGING WINDS & TORNADOES POSSIBLE LATER TODAY; LEVEL 3 (OUT OF 5) RISK… Severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes, damaging wind gusts, large hail, and flash flooding will be possible on this Tuesday, particularly this afternoon into this evening. We encourage everyone across south Alabama and northwest Florida to have a way to get urgent weather warnings today. If you go under a severe thunderstorm warning or a tornado warning, please heed the warning and get sheltered. Inland areas of southwest Alabama remain involved in a Level 3 (out of 5) enhanced severe weather risk, meaning scattered to numerous storms will be likely. Some particularly intense storms are not out of the question today, with the main concerns being large hail and damaging straight line winds capable of knocking down trees. Tornadoes will also be possible this afternoon into this evening. In addition to the convective hazards, flash flooding could become a concern if storms are slow-moving and train over the same areas, which is a real possibility today. More thunderstorms are possible Wednesday ahead of better, drier weather arriving for the upcoming weekend. More forecast details are below.
SEVERE WEATHER TIMING – TUESDAY… 2PM to 10PM today continues to be the eight hour window when strong to severe thunderstorms will be MOST likely to happen across southwest Alabama and northwest Florida. A line of strong to severe storms is expected to develop across parts of Mississippi and Louisiana before moving into west Alabama in the afternoon hours. This line of storms will move across our local area in the late afternoon and evening hours, bringing with it the chance of damaging winds, tornadoes, and hail. If we have tornado warnings for our local area, be sure to join me on Facebook Live for the very latest information.
HEAVY RAIN & FLASH FLOODING CONCERNS… In addition to the risk of tornadoes, damaging winds, and large hail, the expected rain totals (1 to 3 inches of rainfall in total today for many areas farther inland) could lead to flash flooding for some locales. Inland counties likely have a slightly higher risk of flash flooding compared to areas closer to the coast.
FEW STORMS POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY; HIGH RAIN CHANCES… Showers and thunderstorms will continue to be possible on Wednesday as our area remains involved in an expansive warm sector in place across much of the Deep South. Thunderstorms could be “loud and proud” at times on Wednesday, but the overall risk of severe weather will likely be much lower tomorrow compared to what we are dealing with today. Rain chances will be highest on Wednesday most likely in the morning and middle part of the day.
CLEARING SKIES THURSDAY… While rain chances will be much lower on Thursday, it looks like we could have a few lingering showers in the early morning hours. By the afternoon hours, however, skies will begin to clear and rain chances will go down to zero. High temperatures on Thursday will be in the upper-70s and near 80 in most spots.
SUNNY FOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY… Sunshine returns for the upcoming weekend! Friday and Saturday are slated to feature sunny skies with high temperatures near 80. Overnight lows will be in the mid-50s.
SHOWERS RETURN NEXT WEEK… Sunday will likely be dry ahead of another chance of rain and storms setting up early next week. It is too early for specifics, but be aware that we will have at least some chance of rain on Monday into Tuesday of next week. We’ll bring you the latest details over the next few days.
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!
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.
See all the details in your Tuesday morning #rzw forecast video. I will have more updates posted throughout the day. Be sure to join me if/when we have tornado warnings later today in our live video stream. Have a great Tuesday!