OUTLOOK UPGRADE: LEVEL 4 (OUT OF 5) RISK WEDNESDAY… The Storm Prediction Center has upgraded parts of southwest Alabama and southern Mississippi into the Level 4 (out of 5) severe weather risk valid for Wednesday. Parameters supporting strong tornadoes and widespread damaging wind gusts have increased to the point where SPC feels it is warranted to issue this higher risk level. PLEASE note that even if you are not involved in the Level 4 risk zone, tornadoes may happen in the other risk zones. We ALL have a significant round of severe weather ahead on Wednesday, including ALL of our local area in south Alabama and northwest Florida. Please have a way to receive urgent weather warnings tomorrow! You need to have multiple devices that will cause you to take action to get sheltered if a warning is needed for your specific location.
MAIN HAZARDS ON WEDNESDAY ARE TORNADOES & HIGH WIND… Strong tornadoes will become possible across parts of our local area in south Alabama and northwest Florida on Wednesday in what will likely be a significant severe weather situation. Damaging winds will also be a significant concern as a squall line moves by from west to east Wednesday evening. There is a real chance we may have quite a few, if not widespread, power outages across the region due to downed trees. Make SURE you charge your phone and devices overnight into Wednesday morning before this event happens.
SEVERE WEATHER TIMING – MAINLY P.M. HOURS OF WEDNESDAY… 11AM to 8PM is the nine hour window when strong to severe thunderstorms seem most likely to happen across southwest Alabama and northwest Florida. Storms may be more cellular in nature first, meaning a tornado risk and risk of large hail may develop early in the time frame. Storms may come together in more of a linear way while pushing across the region in the evening hours. That is when tornadoes AND a risk of damaging straight line winds would be more likely. In addition, a risk of flash flooding will develop in the evening hours as 2 to 4 inches of total rainfall is in the forecast through Wednesday night.
LEVEL 4 (OUT OF 5) RISK ZONES ARE UNCOMMON… It is a fairly uncommon outlook to see a Level 4 (out of 5) severe weather risk on the daily convective outlooks issued by the Storm Prediction Center. Locally, we have a Level 4 risk on average about once or twice per year. Confidence in this particular severe weather setup on Wednesday has increased, thus the outlook upgrade in place for tomorrow.
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… redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you can download the free RedZone Weather app. We post brief updates throughout each day in the app, keeping you up-to-date about the latest happenings in weather across south Alabama and northwest Florida. Once you have the free app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner) then tap the large Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
I’ll have more updates throughout the day in the RedZone Weather app. My next long form, detailed video will be available later this morning. We will go into live, uninterrupted video coverage if and when tornado warnings become required on Wednesday. Have a nice Tuesday!
