LOW-END SEVERE WEATHER RISK NEAR THE COAST… Moderate to heavy rain continues across many spots in south Alabama and northwest Florida during the lunch hour. Several of the storms near the immediate coastline have been rotating over the last hour, but so far the storms have remained weak and unorganized. A warm front is situated just to our south over the Gulf of Mexico and is moving north slowly. There has already been one tornado warning in SW Louisiana this morning. That is where the tornado risk is highest at the moment. The tornado risk will shift eastward into areas near and just south of our coastline over the next few hours. Below is a current look at the radar as of 12:15PM…
STORM PREDICTION CENTER UPDATE… The Storm Prediction Center has also come on board to the idea of a few brief, spin-up tornadoes near the coast. We note that majority of the areas in our coastal counties are included in their Level 1 (out of 5) marginal risk to potentially see a tornado or two. Widespread severe weather is not expected. This will be a soaking rain event for most communities, but particularly if you’re south of Interstate 10, there is a low-end tornado risk this evening into the overnight hours.
HAVE A WAY TO GET THE WARNINGS… Again, it’s going to be intermittent rain for most of us this afternoon. You will need a way to receive urgent weather alerts should tornado warnings become required. Have a way to get the warnings today and certainly tonight before you go to sleep. I’ll be sending several Low-Level Alerts in the hours ahead here in the RedZone Weather app (see the Alerts tab in the bottom right corner of the app to turn these Low-Level Alerts ON, if you’re interested). I generally only send the urgent alerts in the respective county notification zones here in the RZWeather app.