NICE THURSDAY; SEVERE STORMS POSSIBLE FRI. NIGHT INTO SATURDAY… Mostly sunny skies this morning will transition to mostly cloudy skies later this evening. High temperatures on this Thursday will be in the low-80s. Our weather pattern will become increasingly active tomorrow afternoon into the evening hours. Scattered storms will be possible as early as tomorrow afternoon. The overall severe weather risk is expected to ramp up in the late evening and overnight hours into Saturday morning. A few tornadoes and damaging wind gusts will be possible. Better weather will return Saturday evening with cooler temperatures in store for Sunday and Monday.
A few notes from my previous discussion last evening are below.
SEVERE WEATHER TIMING – FRI. NIGHT INTO SAT. MORNING… 9PM Friday to 9AM Saturday remains the 12 hour window when strong to severe thunderstorms will be most likely to happen across south Alabama and northwest Florida. Unfortunately, this means that thunderstorms will be possible in the overnight hours when many folks are asleep. This is why it is critical that we all have something that can wake us up in case tornado warnings are needed locally. Join me on Facebook Live and YouTube Live if tornado warnings are issued in our local area.
MAIN CONCERNS: TORNADOES & DAMAGING WIND GUSTS… The Storm Prediction Center continues to include much of south Alabama and northwest Florida in their Level 2 (out of 5) severe weather risk zone valid for Friday into Saturday morning. A Level 2 (out of 5) risk means that scattered severe thunderstorms will be possible, with the potential for tornadoes and damaging wind gusts. Widespread flash flooding is not expected as rain totals with this event will probably be in the 1-2″ range in total. Keep in mind that not every community will experience severe weather issues on Friday night into Saturday. Many won’t, in fact. It is impossible to pinpoint exactly where severe storms will develop days in advance, but we can see trends in the model guidance that support the formation of strong to severe storms. Have a way to hear warnings Friday into Saturday.
MORE UPDATES TOMORROW INTO FRIDAY… This is the first severe weather risk our local area has had in several weeks. This will probably be the first of what may be several severe weather events over the next few weeks as we are now in the core of our primary severe weather season through early May. As always, please help me get the word out about the severe weather potential as we approach this event. It is helpful for folks to bring up the severe weather risk as a topic of conversation in our daily lives. You would be shocked as to how many people don’t pay attention to weather information. People are busy and often have no clue we may have tornadoes in the area in the near future. I will have more updates posted tomorrow and on Friday ahead of this event.
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… If you haven’t already, be sure to download the free RedZone Weather app to keep up with all the latest information on the world of weather in south Alabama and northwest Florida. redzoneweather.com/app is the link for the free download. Once you have the app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (top right corner) and tap the large Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
See all the details in your Thursday morning RedZone Weather forecast video. Have a nice day!