70% CHANCE OF TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT IN GULF TOMORROW OR SATURDAY… The National Hurricane Center continues to increase the chances that a weak tropical storm or subtropical storm will develop in the western Gulf of Mexico through Saturday. Regardless of if this system develops and takes a name (next name on the list is Olga), this will be a contributing factor for heavy rain this weekend across parts of Alabama, northwest Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana. At this time, we are NOT expecting significant impacts from what is currently branded as INVEST 97L. Rain at times, yes. Heavy rain at times, possible. Major impacts, no. We will need to mention the chance of a few strong to potentially marginally severe thunderstorms for tomorrow (Friday), but I’m not expecting widespread severe weather for now. Let’s look at a few details this evening.
HAPPENING NOW: SCATTERED SHOWERS… As of 7:45PM, we have numerous small, light rain showers in place across Butler, Conecuh, Monroe, Washington, and northern Mobile counties. These showers are drifting northeast. Rain coverage will gradually increase over the next 12 hours.
FRIDAY: LOW-END CHANCE OF A FEW STRONG STORMS… Based on the projected instability and due to a warm front moving across our area from south to north, there may be a few strong to potentially severe thunderstorms that develop Friday afternoon. I am not expecting widespread severe weather, but there could be a few storms in place across coastal counties on Friday. The primary timing for this will he from 2PM to 8PM.
FRIDAY EVENING EVENTS… I’ve had numerous questions today about specific events happening Friday evening across the region. There is a high chance that locales WEST of the Alabama River (aka west Alabama) will have rain in progress in the evening hours of Friday. Rain chances are a bit lower (but certainly not zero) for areas east of the Alabama River for Friday evening.
MORE HEAVY RAIN ON SATURDAY… Unfortunately, there is no way to pinpoint exactly when and where rain will be happening on Saturday, but we can say confidently there is a high (60-80%) chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms on Saturday. There will be some instability involved in this air mass (especially closer to the coast), so I can’t rule out lightning and thunder throughout the day. I’m not expecting all day storms but there could be storms around at times. Widespread severe weather is not expected.
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL LIKELY TO BE WET ON FRIDAY NIGHT… Several schools and school systems across the region have opted to move their high school football games to this (Thursday) evening to avoid the rain that is expected on Friday. For the games that are still scheduled on Friday, rain is likely in most spots locally, especially across west Alabama. Temperatures will be in the upper-60s at most of the games inland and near 70° closer to the coast. Keep that rain gear handy and with you! We’ll have radar updates on Friday night as needed in the RedZone Weather app.
RAIN TOTALS LIKELY TO BE IN THE 1-2” RANGE THROUGH SATURDAY… Most of the heavier rain on Friday into Saturday will happen west of the Alabama River in west Alabama. Most spots in Clarke, Washington, Mobile, and Choctaw counties will probably have upwards of 2 inches of rain in total while communities farther to the east like Andalusia, Brewton, Evergreen, and Greenville may only pick up 1” of rain in total or less.
UNSETTLED PATTERN LIKELY TO CONTINUE INTO NEXT WEEK… Rain chances will remain at least somewhat elevated Sunday through Wednesday of the upcoming week as a stalled frontal boundary meanders across our region. High temperatures will consistently be in the 70s. It probably won’t be an “all day washout” on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, but there will likely be showers and storms around each day. We’ll keep you posted about it all in the RedZone Weather app.
APP… redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you can download the free RedZone Weather app. Once you have the app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner) then tap the large, yellow Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.