…Enhanced Risk Tuesday extended slightly southward with increased wind threat probabilities…
For the remainder of today, there remains a very low chance of one or two wind gusts from 40-60 mph and/or hail in far northern Alabama between 2 PM and 7 PM. There is only a 20%-35% chance of any thunderstorm development, so any severe weather is a very low threat.
It is still looking like supercells will develop in northwestern Alabama from mid to late afternoon Tuesday, and form into a broken to solid line as they move southward towards I-20. The storms will begin to weaken rapidly after 12 AM Wednesday, once moving south of I-20.
The highest threat region will be near and north of I-20/59, where the potential exists for a few tornadoes (EF2+ possible), damaging straight-line winds, and hail. The probabilities for damaging winds north of I-20/59 are now 30-59%. These probabilities are for any point within 25 miles in the Enhanced Risk, which is very high.
It should be noted that with all the recent rainfall and saturated soil, numerous trees could be downed with winds much less than 60 mph.
Finally, the National Weather Service in Birmingham is conducting a required, scheduled software upgrade from today until the 21st. Backup offices will provide warnings as necessary.
However, all NOAA Weather Radio transmitters within their control will be down during this time. A map of the affected transmitters is shown below.
If unsure that you are affected, turn on your weather radio after 8 am today, and you will hear a pre-recorded message if the transmitter is inoperative. Have alternative ways to receive warnings through local TV, the Internet, weather apps, and county emergency notification systems.
