SCATTERED STORMS LATER TODAY; HURRICANE TO DEVELOP IN CARIBBEAN SEA… Rain chances will increase throughout the day on this Wednesday. The Storm Prediction Center has included part of our local area in their low-end, Level 1 (out of 5) severe weather risk valid for today into tonight. This risk zone is in place due to a low-end potential of a tornado or two with damaging winds being possible in the strongest of the storms. MOST communities locally will not have tornado or damaging wind issues today. Thunderstorms will continue to be possible tonight and into early tomorrow morning before drier weather arrives for Thursday afternoon, Friday, and Saturday. Cooler, drier conditions will persist through the weekend before more rain chances next week.
LOW-END SEVERE WEATHER RISK THIS EVENING… 2PM to 8PM is the main window for the potential for any strong to severe thunderstorms to develop across south Alabama or northwest Florida. Odds are we will come through this event with no major issues. I expect rain and perhaps loud thunderstorms at times over the next 24 hours. Have a way to receive warnings today into tonight, just in case we have one or two storms that ramp up to severe levels.
90% CHANCE OF TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT IN CARIBBEAN SEA… The tropical disturbance moving into the western Caribbean Sea, now branded as INVEST 99L, has a 90 percent chance of becoming a named tropical storm over the next few days. The system will likely have some erratic movement over the next few days as the system slows down in the western Caribbean Sea northeast of the Honduras coast. Big question marks remain as to where the system will ultimately end up, but the focal zone (unfortunately) appears to be on Florida next week. INVEST 99L may become a powerful hurricane this weekend as the storm slowly moves northwest through the Caribbean Sea. It is too early to speculate how strong the storm may be once it moves into the Gulf of Mexico. It is also too early to completely rule out local impacts in Alabama, although most of the model guidance currently suggests impacts well to our south. This is something I will be carefully monitoring over the next few days.
APP… If you haven’t already, be sure to download the free RedZone Weather app to keep up with all the latest information on the world of weather in south Alabama and northwest Florida. redzoneweather.com/app is the link for the free download. Once you have the app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner) and tap the Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
See all the details in your Wednesday morning RedZone Weather forecast video. Have a great day!