Our line of strong thunderstorms is approaching Northwest Alabama this morning…
The line extends from near Florence down through western Franklin County to about 10 miles west of Hamilton to 10 miles west of Vernon in Lamar County. Storms have broken out ahead of the main line in western Marion County along the Lamar County line and near Hamilton.
No warnings are in effect for North or Central Alabama at this time. Severe thunderstorm warnings are in effect for Clay and Lowndes Counties in Mississippi (Columbus area) as well as Oktibbeha County (Starkville) and parts of Winston, Attala and Neshoba Counties.
A tornado watch continues until 4 p.m. for North Alabama. An earlier tornado watch continues for the rest of West into Central Alabama until noon. A new tornado watch will be issued shortly that will replace the Central Alabama watch.
When the line reaches your area, you can expect blinding rains, lightning and hail. Stronger storms may also contain damaging winds and even isolated embedded tornaodes.
If the atmosphere becomes unstable enough, additional severe storms could develop over Central Alabama later today ahead of the main line. These would be the main candidates to become larger supercells with the higher probability of significant tornadoes and wind damage.
