The worst of the severe weather will likely stretch from parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley into Alabama, with several storms possible for parts of Mississippi and Alabama from Wednesday afternoon into the night, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
The center warns of “high risk” for severe weather – a category level that is not taken lightly and is only used once or twice a year on average. There were no high-risk days in 2020. The last was in May 2019.
About 11 million Americans in that region are at higher risk for long-track tornadoes on Wednesday, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said.
The National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama,
warned that “strong to violent tornadoes are expected.” Some areas are at high risk for violent long-track tornadoes, damaging winds in excess of 130 km / h and tennis ball-sized hail.
said
Long trajectory tornadoes are the ones that consistently stay on the ground for an extended period of time, unlike a typical one that can only be on the ground for a few minutes.
The Alabama Emergency Management Agency
warned the storms could be a “dangerous and life-threatening event”.
In response to the prediction, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency, saying in a statement that she did so “out of an abundance of caution.”
“Projections show that this is likely to be a widespread event, with some of the harshest weather expected Wednesday evening to early Thursday morning,” Ivey said in a statement.
“Please prepare now in case your area is affected in any way. I will continue to monitor the system closely and encourage every Alabamian to do the same,” added the governor.
Other officials also urged residents of the state to prepare on Tuesday.
“Make sure you have multiple ways to receive alerts”, the weather service in Mobile
wrote on Twitter“Also have a plan for a safe place to go in case an alert is issued. Please DO NOT focus on the exact level of risk. Everyone in the region should be prepared for significant severe weather!”
CNN’s Dave Alsup, Jackson Dill and Jennifer Gray contributed to this report.
Source
Related
