SEVERE STORMS & TORNADOES POSSIBLE THURSDAY INTO EARLY FRIDAY… Another round of tornadoes and severe weather is expected to impact the Deep South, including the entire local area, on Thursday (March 25) perhaps extending into the early morning hours of Friday. I would not be surprised if outlook upgrades and adjustments become necessary over the next few days as there is an increasingly strong model signal suggesting a tornado potential across much of our area. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) includes much of Alabama, Mississippi, northwest Florida, Louisiana, southeastern Arkansas, and east Texas in this Level 2 (out of 5) initial risk zone where severe storms will be possible. The bottom line as of Monday evening is: Please be aware of the potential for severe storms locally on Thursday into early Friday. Tornadoes will be possible. Please check back in over the next few days for more updates as we continue to get more data to be able to refine the forecast and get more specific on details.
INCREASINGLY CLOUDY OVERNIGHT… Cloud coverage will increase across our area overnight ahead of increasing rain chances on Tuesday. I cannot completely rule out a few showers as early as 4-5AM tomorrow morning, but most of the rain should hold off until around midday.
HEAVY RAIN AT TIMES – P.M. TUESDAY… The afternoon and evening hours could feature quite a bit of rain, potentially heavy rain, that could quickly lead to flash flooding, especially across parts of southwest Alabama. The National Weather Service now has a Flash Flood Watch in effect for Clarke, Washington, Baldwin, Mobile, and Choctaw counties in southwest Alabama. More local counties may be added to the Flash Flood Watch in the days ahead once the heavy rain event begins.
LOW-END SEVERE WEATHER RISK TO OUR WEST THRU WEDNESDAY… Ahead of our local severe weather risk Thursday into early Friday, there is a low-end, Level 1 (out of 5) severe weather risk for parts of Mississippi and Louisiana. Gusty winds and a tornado or two will be possible in the stronger storms in the low-end risk zones to our west on Tuesday into Wednesday and Thursday in the early morning hours.
SEVERE STORMS POSSIBLE THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY MORNING LOCALLY… Alabama and northwest Florida will be on the eastern side of the severe weather risk zone on Thursday into early Friday, suggesting that our area may not have severe weather issues until the afternoon and evening hours. Tornadoes, damaging straight line winds, large hail, and flash flooding will be possible. It is very important that you have a way to get urgent weather warnings on Thursday into early Friday. While it is a bit early in this process, we note that the local National Weather Service office has included a mention of the potential for strong (EF2+) tornadoes on Thursday, similar to the threat we faced last week ahead of the tornado outbreak that caused at least 20 tornadoes across Alabama. I will continue to monitor parameters suggesting this potential and keep you posted accordingly in the RedZone Weather app.
LEVEL 2 (OUT OF 5) RISK, FOR NOW… The entire local area in southwest Alabama and northwest Florida is involved in a Level 2 (out of 5) severe weather risk valid Thursday into Friday morning. This risk includes all parts of Baldwin, Mobile, Washington, Clarke, Monroe, Conecuh, Escambia (AL), Covington, Butler, Escambia (FL), Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa counties. This includes places like Mobile, Prichard, Daphne, Fairhope, Orange Beach, Bay Minette, Pensacola, Molino, Century, Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Milton, Pace, Jay, Brewton, Atmore, Flomaton, Poarch, Evergreen, Castleberry, Uriah, Monroeville, Beatrice, Thomasville, Grove Hill, Jackson, Coffeeville, Chatom, Millry, McIntosh, Andalusia, Opp, Florala, Greenville, Georgiana, and surrounding areas. Many other communities to our north are also involved in this Level 2 risk valid for Thursday: Montgomery, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Selma, Demopolis, Camden, Butler, Hayneville, Livingston, Eutaw, Aliceville, Fayette, Russellville, Hamilton Decatur, Cullman, Oneonta, Leeds, Talladega, Clanton, Prattville, Wetumpka, Marion, and surrounding areas.
APP ALERTS… Now is the time, long before we get to this severe weather potential, to set up the RedZone Weather app on your smartphone! redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you can download the iOS or Android version of the app. Once you have the app downloaded to your device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner of the app), then tap the large, yellow Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
I will have your next full forecast video and detailed text discussion posted by 7:15AM tomorrow morning. More updates will be posted as needed until then in the RedZone Weather app. Have a good Monday evening!
