UPDATE: Perry County facing ‘upgraded’ severe weather threat for Easter Sunday

 

From Staff Reports

The National Weather Service office in Mobile, Ala. has upgraded the severe weather alert for our area on Easter Sunday.

Perry County residents are being urged to keep a close eye on weather conditions this weekend as a system set to move through the area on Sunday shows the potential to produce “all modes of severe weather”. Early Friday, forecasters out of the NWS Mobile/Pensacola station upgraded the threat risk to ‘moderate’ for parts of the county. The original weather alert on Thursday gave the area an ‘enhanced’ threat, but forecasters now say much of the area, particularly the northern parts of Perry and Greene counties have an increased chance of severe weather from the storm front.

All of Mississippi and Alabama are under a severe weather alert for the weekend. The highest threat level for our area, according to NWS, runs along and northwest of a line running from New Augusta to Camden, Ala. (see map).

Friday’s updated forecast said the threats to the area include the potential for damaging winds, large hail and strong, long-track tornadoes.

“We don’t see this high of a (forecasted) risk very often,” Greene County Emergency Management Director Trent Robertson said Friday morning. “Areas of Greene and Perry counties, and all of Wayne County are at a level 4 risk (out of 5), giving these areas a ‘moderate’ threat level for Sunday. All of the area is at an enhanced risk of severe weather with this storm front.”

NWS officials say the are continuing to monitor the strong low pressure system and encourage residents to be very weather-aware through the weekend.

“Confidence in the potential in severe thunderstorms is increasing across all of our area Sunday into Sunday night,” NWS officials said in the alert issued Thursday. “All modes of severe weather will be possible with this system.”

Updates are available at https://www.weather.gov/mob/.