PTC6 FORMS IN S.W. GULF; LOCAL IMPACTS POSSIBLE LATER THIS WEEK… The National Hurricane Center has initiated advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone #6, located in the Bay of Campeche region in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. This system is expected to strengthen and organize in the days ahead. Landfall appears likely in the state of Louisiana on Wednesday or Thursday. This means that direct local impacts in Alabama and northwest Florida will be possible on Wednesday, Thursday, and potentially into Friday as our local area will be on the “messy,” eastern side of this storm. The next name on the tropical naming list is Francine followed by Gordon. PTC6 will likely take one of these names, depending on if this system forms first or a separate tropical disturbance far out in the Atlantic Ocean.
LOCAL IMPACTS DISCUSSION – SOUTH ALABAMA & N.W. FLORIDA… The risk of hazards across south Alabama and northwest Florida has increased as confidence is growing that the developing tropical system will be a tropical storm or hurricane on approach to Louisiana later this week. Our area will be on the eastern side of the system, meaning heavy rain, flash flooding, gusty winds, and tornadoes will be possible. It is too early to nail down the specific hazard placements across our region but please check back in over the next few days as this will be a quick-hitting system that develops very fast and moves inland by midweek. In addition to the potential hazards later this week, rip currents and high waves are expected to be a problem throughout the week at all local beaches. Best case scenario – this system brings us quite a bit of beneficial rain without other significant hazards. That is a possibility!
SET UP APP ALERTS… We send quite a bit of Low-Level Alerts in our RedZone Weather app. The app is totally free for you! redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you see the download links to your respective app store for iOS and for Android devices. Once you have the app downloaded to your smartphone or tablet device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
I will have another detailed update in the next regularly scheduled RedZone Weather forecast video that will be posted by 7:15AM tomorrow morning. Have a nice Sunday evening!