ISOLATED SHOWERS TODAY; SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER RISK ON WEDNESDAY… Spotty showers will be possible at times on this Tuesday. Not every community will have rain before the end of the day, but some inevitably will. High temperatures will be in the upper-70s and near the 80 degree mark in most spots. We have a significant round of severe weather becoming likely on Wednesday. The Storm Prediction Center has upgraded parts of west Alabama into an uncommon Level 4 (out of 5) significant severe weather risk zone. In addition, every community across south Alabama and northwest Florida is now involved in (at minimum) the Level 3 (out of 5) enhanced risk zone. This means that scattered to numerous severe storms will be likely, including the potential for a few strong (EF2+) tornadoes and widespread damaging wind gusts. We encourage everyone to have multiple ways to hear urgent weather warnings tomorrow and join us on Facebook Live or YouTube Live if/when tornado warnings become needed locally.
SEVERE WEATHER TIMING – MAINLY P.M. HOURS OF WEDNESDAY… 11AM to 8PM continues to be 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.
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.
HEAVY RAIN LIKELY AT TIMES WEDNESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT… In addition to the severe weather risk setting up Wednesday, I am also becoming more concerned about the risk of flash flooding. 3 to 5 inches of total rainfall is expected on Wednesday with isolated higher amounts. Flash flooding may quickly become a problem if storms train over the same areas.
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.
CLEARING SKIES THURSDAY; SUNNY FRIDAY… Isolated showers will be possible in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday ahead of clearing skies in the late morning and early afternoon hours. High temperatures on Thursday will be in the 70s. Full sunshine is in the forecast for Friday with high temperatures likely to be in the mid-70s.
NICE, MILD WEATHER THIS WEEKEND… The upcoming weekend continues to look quite nice with mostly sunny skies expected on both Friday and Saturday. Highs will be in the upper-70s and near 80 degrees.
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. We will go into live, uninterrupted video coverage if and when tornado warnings become required on Wednesday. Be sure to join me tomorrow morning at 7:15AM in the next regularly scheduled forecast video for the latest information. Have a nice Tuesday!
