MULTIPLE WAVES OF SEVERE STORMS POSSIBLE THU. NIGHT INTO FRIDAY MORNING… Severe thunderstorms capable of producing widespread damaging wind gusts, a few tornadoes, and large hail will become possible Thursday night into Friday morning. Locally across south Alabama and northwest Florida, the core of the issues are MOST likely to happen after midnight on Thursday night into early Friday morning. It appears multiple rounds of thunderstorms will be possible with the first of the storms happening from 10PM to 8AM with the secondary, more questionable round of storms later in the morning hours of Friday.
SEVERE WEATHER TIMING – FRIDAY MORNING… Scattered showers and general thunderstorms (likely below severe limits in nearly all cases) will be possible throughout the day on Thursday. MOST communities will probably remain dry until the late evening hours. 10PM Thursday to 8AM Friday is now the window when strong to severe thunderstorms seem most likely to happen across south Alabama and northwest Florida in the initial, most significant round of thunderstorms. Severe storms will be possible again from 9AM to Noon SPECIFICALLY in areas closer to the coast. There is a chance that the first round of storms works over the atmosphere completely and mitigates the second round entirely, but the latest guidance is at least showing the potential for a secondary batch of storms to develop near the coast and push to the south in the late morning hours of Friday.
DAMAGING WIND GUSTS ARE MAIN RISK; TORNADOES & HAIL ALSO POSSIBLE… The most concerning aspect of this specific severe weather setup is the potential for widespread damaging wind gusts, specifically (although not exclusively) across inland areas of southwest Alabama. Tornadoes will be possible, but I am more concerned for the potential for trees coming down and the potential 70-80 mph wind gusts. Large hail will also be possible in the strongest of the storms.
TORNADO WATCH WELL TO OUR NORTH TONIGHT… A Tornado Watch is in effect this evening for much of north Alabama. Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan, Cullman, Marshall, Madison, Jackson, and DeKalb counties in far north Alabama are involved in an active Tornado Watch that also includes a big chunk of Tennessee till 11PM. Strong to severe thunderstorms will be possible across north Alabama tonight into early Thursday. We note that A Tornado Emergency was issued earlier this evening for parts of Maury, Williamson, and Rutherford counties, just south of the Nashville, TN metro area due to a large tornado that moved through. Fortunately, active weather is NOT expected tonight across south Alabama or northwest Florida.
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 will have more details about the developing severe weather risk in the next regularly scheduled RedZone Weather forecast video that will be posted by 7:15AM tomorrow morning. Please join me then for the very the latest information.
Have a nice Wednesday evening!
