2PM UPDATE: ALBERTO MOVING NORTH; RAIN TO START THIS EVENING… A new center of circulation has formed in Subtropical Storm Alberto in the southern Gulf of Mexico per the latest reports from the NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft. The forward speed of the storm has increased to 13 miles per hour. The first showers/rain bands that will reach our area from Alberto are about 50 miles south of Port Saint Joe and Panama City, meaning rain/storms from Alberto will start this evening across our coastal areas of northwest Florida and near the Alabama beaches. The storms in progress across our region right now are in the same vein of seabreeze storms we’ve had over the last two weeks.
RIGHT ON TRACK… Unforunately, the forecast for Alberto is playing out exactly on track. A major flash flooding/river & creek flooding event is likely ahead for south Alabama and northwest Florida. A HIGH RISK of flash flooding has been expanded farther inland to now include portions of Washington, Clarke, Monroe, Conecuh, and Covington counties in addition to the counties that were already involved to the south. A Flash Flood Watch is in effect for these areas now as well.
TORNADO RISK INCREASES OVERNIGHT… Please (I can’t stress this enough!) have a way to recieve urgent weather warnings before you go to sleep tonight. Isolated, brief spin-up tornadoes will be possible across the area (likely starting in coastal areas first and then spreading inland) as early as this evening. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Tornado Watch be needed as early as Sunday across our area as the right-front quadrant of Alberto approaches.
TORNADO WARNING COVERAGE… Per our coverage policy (redzoneweather.com/coverage) we will be LIVE across our platforms whenever there is a tornado warning in place for any part of our 12 county primary coverage area should warnings become necessary.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT COVERAGE… I know of several people in the broadcasting community across the U.S. that have recently had issues with live streaming to Facebook. This is beyond their control and has something to do with the privacy/security concerns that have recently come to light about Facebook. IF, by chance, we have issues streaming to Facebook Live for whatever reason, we will be LIVE in the RedZone Weather app (in the Live tab) and via our YouTube channel and in the audio-only Mixlr feed in the app. Not expecting issues, but just to be clear on the front end, that’s the plan!
APP… I’ll have further updates over the next few hours here in the RedZone Weather app. Be sure to set up your customized alerts, if you have not already, that you would like to get from us by visiting the Alerts tab (bottom right) and then tapping the large, yellow “Alert Settings” button to toggle on the notifications you want to receive.
I’ll have a live video update later this evening. See you then!