Tornado Watch Issued for Parts of Mississippi and Louisiana

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for parts of Louisiana and Mississippi until 6 p.m. CST today. This watch will be extended into Southwest Alabama eventually.

We are in full Operation StormWatch here in the AlabamaWX Weather Center, monitoring things for our state. Isolated severe storms are possible later today across Central Alabama with a higher threat for far Southwest Alabama.

The slight risk outlook from the Storm Prediction Center (for scattered severe storms) covers areas southwest of a line from Gilbertown in Choctaw County to Grove Hill in Clarke County to Evergreen in Conecuh County to Andalusia in Covington County and on into Florida.

Further north, a lesser risk extends up into Central Alabama from Aliceville in Pickens County to Moundville in Hale County to Clanton in Chilton County to Tuskegee in Macon County to Eufaula in Barbour County. Isolated severe thunderstorms are possible later today in this area.

Thunderstorms are already on going across Central Alabama with two main clusters. The first is across Perry, Hale and Greene Counties. The other is across Cullman in North Central Alabama. These storms are not severe and aren’t likely to become severe yet. There just isn’t any instability yet in Alabama.

To the west, a cluster of severe storms is northwest of Laurel in Mississippi with a warning in effect. There are three severe thunderstorm warnings in effect for a broken line of storms from near Vicksburg and Port Gibson to southwest of Natchez into Louisiana near Bunkie.

Showers and storms will continue through the day, increasing slowly in intensity as instability increases. An 850 millibar low level jet is increasing across Mississippi into Northwest Alabama this morning and that is transporting warm, moist Gulf air northward.

While widespread severe weather is not expected today, have a way to receive a warning and be ready to act if one is issued.

Category: Alabama's Weather, Severe Weather