Alabama 811 | Know What's Below.

Some Sun & Some Clouds With A Breeze At Midday; Strong To Severe Storms To Our West

| April 18, 2019 @ 11:57 am

At 11:50 am, we are still free from any shower activity across Central Alabama, but there is some decent sunshine making it to the surface out there. The action remains out to our west where a ragged line of storms stretches over the Mississippi River from northeastern Arkansas and western Tennessee down to southern Louisiana. Only one severe thunderstorm warning is in effect for parts of eastern Louisiana at the moment, but there have already been a few tornado warnings throughout the morning.

A tornado watch is currently in effect for the eastern parts of Louisiana and the southwestern parts of Mississippi until 7:00 pm tonight. A few tornadoes are likely along with damaging winds up to 75 MPH. Isolated hail up to ping pong size possible as well.

No change in the severe risks for today… SPC has an Enhanced Risk for severe storms up for locations south of a line from Vernon to Hoover to just north of Tuskegee for today through 7:00 am Friday. A Slight risk is up for the rest of Central Alabama. Tornadoes and damaging winds will be the main threats with this event, but there is a much smaller risk of large hail up to quarter size.

HRRR Simulated Radar valid through 4:00 am Friday.

The forecast continues to be on track for scattered storms to start moving into the western parts of Central Alabama at or around 4:00 pm with the main line of cells moving in about an hour or two later. Storms will progress across the area with the threat coming to an end around 4:00 am Friday morning. There is a possibility that storms could linger just a little longer in the extreme southeastern parts of the area, maybe as late as 5:00 am to 6:00 am as the latest HRRR is showing a little slower progress.

The main window for severe storms across Central Alabama continues to be from 4:00 pm this afternoon until 4:00 am Friday morning. To break it down, the western third of the area (west of a line from Demopolis to West Jefferson to Holly Pond) will occur from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm west to east, the central third of the area (east to a line from Fort Deposit to Alexander City to Ranburne) from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am, and the eastern third of the area from 10:00 pm to 4:00 am.

The higher chance of tornadoes will be in the enhanced risk locations, mainly south of a line stretching from Tuscaloosa to Clanton to Auburn. The Storm Prediction Center has a 10% chance of a tornado occurring within 25 miles of a point in the enhanced risk locations with the possibility of a strong tornado of EF2 or higher. In the slight risk locations, the main threat will be from damaging winds up to 60 MPH or more, but there is still a threat of a few tornadoes.

No matter what the risk level is for your location, you will need to be weather aware starting later this afternoon through the late night and into the early morning hours.

We’ll continue to keep you posted throughout the event. Stay tuned.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS, Severe Weather

About the Author ()

Scott Martin is an operational meteorologist, professional graphic artist, musician, husband, and father. Not only is Scott a member of the National Weather Association, but he is also the Central Alabama Chapter of the NWA president. Scott is also the co-founder of Racecast Weather, which provides forecasts for many racing series across the USA. He also supplies forecasts for the BassMaster Elite Series events including the BassMaster Classic.

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