SEVERE STORMS, INCLUDING A FEW INTENSE TORNADOES, EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND… Severe storms capable of producing tornadoes may become possible across parts of our local area as early as tonight in the overnight hours, specifically across parts of west Alabama. We probably will get a break in the action tomorrow morning ahead of a potentially major round of severe storms capable of producing long track, strong (EF3+) tornadoes Saturday afternoon and evening. ALL of south Alabama and northwest Florida are now involved in the Level 4 (out of 5) significant severe weather risk zone. PLEASE have multiple ways to hear warnings over the next 48 hours until we give the “all clear.”
SEVERE WEATHER TIMING – TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT… Multiple rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms are likely on Saturday, specifically across parts of east Mississippi and west Alabama. The first round of storms may kick off across southeast Mississippi around 10PM tonight. This first cluster of storms may have a few supercells involved, potentially producing a few tornadoes while moving through the western part of our local area. This is why I have updated the timing, specifically for west Alabama, to better reflect the potential of a first round of storms happening overnight tonight into Saturday. The “main event,” however, is expected to happen for many communities from Noon on Saturday to 4AM Sunday. This very well could be a long-lasting severe weather day that continues into Saturday night. We vehemently encourage everyone to have multiple ways to hear warnings starting tomorrow night and extending throughout the day on Saturday into Sunday. Intense (EF3+) tornadoes will be possible.
LINGERING SHOWERS SUNDAY MORNING; CLEARING SUNDAY P.M. INTO MONDAY… Isolated showers will be possible Sunday morning long after the severe weather risk comes to a close. Rain should be completely out of our local area to the east by 2PM Sunday. High temperatures on Sunday will be in the mid 70s. We’ll be in the low 70s on Monday afternoon with full sunshine expected all day Monday and Tuesday.
BE THE HERO… The National Weather Service has launched an awareness campaign entitled, “Be The Hero.” The truth is you can absolutely be a hero and inform those folks around you that pay no attention to the world of weather. I guarantee you (sadly) there are folks all around that have heard nothing about this severe weather threat setting up for Saturday. The way we combat that is to “be the hero” and let your friends and family know about this risk. Call them, text them, tag them, pass it along to them, I really don’t care HOW you tell your folks as long as we make as many folks aware of this risk as possible.
TORNADO WARNING POLICY… Any time there is an active tornado warning in effect for southwest Alabama or northwest Florida, we provide uninterrupted, live video coverage on Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and in the Live tab of the RedZone Weather app. Our detailed coverage commitment is outlined at redzoneweather.com/coverage. We are proud to cover all parts of Escambia (AL), Covington, Monroe, Conecuh, Baldwin, Mobile, Clarke, Washington, Butler, Escambia (FL), Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa counties. If you live in any locale in those counties, be sure to tune into our coverage whenever there is an active tornado warning!
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.
NEXT UPDATE… I will have updates posted throughout the day in the RedZone Weather app. Another highly detailed update will be posted this evening. Have a great Friday and please stay safe this weekend!
