The National Weather Service is predicting another round of severe storms in Alabama. Forecasters said they expect the rough weather to arrive Friday evening and stick around through early Saturday morning.
They said greatest threats are tornadoes, hail and damaging winds. This comes just after multiple confirmed tornadoes hit across Alabama and Mississippi last weekend. The NWS said areas like Montgomery were hit with an EF-2, an EF-1 and an EF-0 tornado.
The Associated Press reported one person died during last weekend’s severe weather in Alabama. The new outlet said a Morgan County man died after being trapped beneath a mobile home that flipped over during one of the tornadoes.
With another round of severe weather on the horizon, the National Weather Service is warning Alabama residents to have multiple ways to remain weather aware.
Mark Rose works with NWS in Birmingham. He said there will be a challenge to keep people up to date during the overnight storms.
“Unfortunately, it’s going to be another one of those events where the severe weather we are expecting will occur during the overnight period,” he explained. “That always brings a challenge to those folks who are at home, maybe asleep, and not necessarily out and about or paying attention to weather.”
Rose said the highest threats of severe weather will be across the northern part of the state.
“They need to have a weather radio or an app on their phone that will alert them if there is severe weather approaching. Especially if they are going to be asleep, they will have some way to get notified quickly and be able to take necessary shelter or actions,” said Rose.
Forecasters predict the storms will arrive Friday evening starting in Northwest Alabama.
The severe weather coming in is part of a series of storms predicted to hit the South over the next couples of weeks, reports the Associated Press.
Victor Gensini is a Northern Illinois meteorology professor and tornado expert. She told the AP the current persistent pattern of storm ingredients reminds him of the April 2011 tornado onslaught that killed 363 people in six states, hitting Alabama hardest. That was one of the largest, deadliest and most destructive tornado outbreaks in American history, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasters say, even before last weekend's tornadoes, the current severe weather system had been the most active they've seen in several years.
