West Alabama Upgraded to Enhanced Risk for Severe Weather on Wednesday

Severe weather is in the forecast for Wednesday, March 30, 2022, starting in the late afternoon into the evening through the early hours of Thursday morning. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has all of our coverage area in an “enhanced risk" which is a level 3 out of 5.

ABC 33/40, and Townsquare Media Tuscaloosa Chief Meteorologist James Spann said that “Wednesday will be a warm, windy day with a high in the low to mid-80s, followed by a band of strong to severe thunderstorms late in the day into Wednesday night.

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As we continue to monitor this storm system and will continue to update you. We wanted you to have a heads up on the current thoughts about the severe weather threats from the National Weather Service in Birmingham.

A few tornadoes

Damaging winds up to 70 mph

Quarter Sized Hail

Localized Flooding Potential

Timeframe

Spann commented that this will be “similar to the system we experienced last week. Most likely the storms will come through in a linear fashion. The line of severe storms will likely enter West Alabama late in the afternoon, in the 5:00-6:00 time frame, then sweeping eastward Wednesday night. Storms could linger after midnight over the eastern counties, but they will be weakening at that time. The main window for the I-65 corridor will be from 7 pm to midnight.”

Other Weather Concerns

In addition, to the threat of tornadoes, there is a concern for non-thunderstorm winds and flooding. Ahead of the storm system, our area could experience wind gusts up to 40 to 45 miles per hour. Flooding is a concern as well since the grounds are still saturated from the last system. Currently, we should expect 1 to 2 inches.

Stay Aware & Prepared

Now is a great time to review your safety plan and where you will go if a tornado watch & warning is issued. Also, since this is a late afternoon into the evening hours. Please be sure that your phone is not silenced so you can get important weather updates.

If for any reason one of our coverage area counties goes under a tornado warning we will provide nonstop severe weather coverage on our Townsquare Media Radio Stations. These stations include Praise 93.3, 92.9 WTUG, 95.3 The Bear, METV 97.5, Catfish 100.1, Tide 100.9, ALT 101.7, and 105.1 The Block. Our radio stations combined cover the following counties, Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa, and Walker.

(Source) For more from the National Weather Service Birmingham, click here. Click here to follow the Facebook Page for James Spann.