SALLY MAKES LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 2 HURRICANE… The center of the eye of Hurricane Sally has officially crossed the Alabama coast on this Wednesday morning. Sally made landfall at 5AM with the center point of the eye crossing the coast between Gulf Shores and Orange Beach near Gulf State Park. This is very near where Hurricane Ivan (the last hurricane to make landfall in the state of Alabama) made landfall in 2004. My big takeaway I want everyone to take to heart this morning is: THIS EVENT IS NOWHERE NEAR OVER, unfortunately. We have a long way to go with ongoing impacts expected to continue into the afternoon and potentially even the evening hours. The good news is we should be able to sleep better today when Sally moves east of our area.
FLASH FLOOD EMERGENCY CONTINUES… Sally continues to produce EXTREME rain amounts across southern Baldwin, Escambia (FL), and Santa Rosa counties where a FLASH FLOOD EMERGENCY continues. To repeat for emphasis, a Flash Flood EMERGENCY is in effect for the Pensacola metro, Foley, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, and surrounding areas. This means that life-threatening flash flooding is happening. Absolutely DO NOT drive in this mess!
FLASH FLOOD WARNING INLAND… ALL parts of Escambia (AL) and Covington, much of Conecuh, eastern Monroe, and northern Baldwin counties are now under a Flash Flood Warning. Flash flooding ongoing in these counties will only get worse in the hours ahead as the core of Hurricane Sally slowly approaches from the south. Rain amounts near Brewton, Atmore, and Andalusia quickly appear to be approaching the 4-5″ mark in most areas.
WHAT TO EXPECT – NEXT FEW HOURS… Torrential downpours of rain will continue in many spots across south Alabama and northwest Florida, exacerbating ongoing flash flooding issues. The National Weather Service is reporting that storm spotters have reported areas in southern Baldwin and Escambia (FL) counties as having over 20 inches of total rainfall already. This means that ongoing flash flooding will only worsen in these areas. In addition to the ongoing flooding, spin-up tornadoes will continue to be a likely be an intermittent problem. A new Tornado Watch will likely be needed when the outgoing one expires at 6AM. Storm surge will continue to be a hazard at local beaches and bays. High winds up to 80 mph will be possible across Baldwin, Escambia (FL) and Santa Rosa counties, perhaps even for some inland communities. Winds could gust as high as 50-60 mph across western parts of Escambia (AL) County in the next 2-3 hours.
APP ALERTS… Many updates will be posted throughout the day in the RedZone Weather app. redzoneweather.com/app is the link for the free download. Be sure to visit the Alerts tab (bottom right corner) and tap the large, yellow “Alert Settings” button to customize the alerts you’d like to receive from me. If you like a lot of info, be sure to toggle ON Low-Level Alerts.
NEXT LIVE UPDATE… We were planning to do a live video update at 5:30AM but we are postponing that to allow me time to update our forecast graphics accordingly for our next live round of tornado warning coverage. I expect more tornado warnings in the hours ahead and the minute one is issued for our local area, we’ll jump back on the live feed. Until then, updates coming in the RedZone Weather app and IF we happen to have no tornado warnings, count on a live update by 7:30AM. See you shortly!