North Alabama on Tuesday could see its first official brush with severe weather since the start of spring, as a southeastward-moving cold front enters the area in the latter half of Tuesday.
The Huntsville office of the National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts an enhanced risk for damaging winds late Tuesday afternoon for an area encompassing all of Limestone County, and extending southward through Morgan County toward Cullman.
In addition to the potential for damaging winds, the system also is expected to bring a risk of large hail and the possibility of one or more isolated tornadoes.
Timing for the storms’ arrival Tuesday afternoon remains imprecise, though forecasters currently expect both Limestone and Cullman counties to be at their greatest risk from between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Because of the possibility of localized power outages, emergency officials advise keeping up with the weather using multiple information sources.
“People will definitely need to be weather aware on Tuesday, and have more than one way to receive alerts,” said Cullman Emergency Management Agency director Tim Sartin.
The weather service on Monday placed its highest confidence in the potential for damaging winds, but also cautioned medium confidence in hail as well as a lower confidence in tornadoes. Limestone and other north Alabama counties lie in an area of “enhanced” weather risk while counties farther south lie in an area of “slight” risk, though Sartin noted that either designation means residents should be prepared for the possibility of dangerous weather.
“It’s important to understand that, just because you might be in an area that falls under a “slight” risk, that doesn’t mean severe weather won’t happen,” he said “‘Slight’ still means that there’s better than a normal, everyday chance that you could see a tornado, hail or damaging winds.”
Keep up with the latest severe weather forecast and alerts online at the Huntsville NWS office’s website (weather.gov/hun/).