Severe Weather

Forecasters are bracing for what could be the area’s first springtime brush with severe weather tomorrow, with the National Weather Service predicting a day of rain and storms that could spawn tornadoes well into the early hours Thursday morning.

As of late Monday, weather models anticipated a storm system set to arrive in Cullman County sometime after midday on Wednesday, bringing with it a high potential for large hail and tornadoes. Cullman Emergency Management Agency director Phyllis Little said Monday the approaching system comes with a high degree of confidence from meteorologists that things could get severe.

“As of now, we’re at an enhanced threat for tornadic weather, with the large hail and damaging winds, and their confidence level that that will occur is bordering on ‘very confident,’” said Little.

“We’ll know more after we hold our afternoon weather briefing on Tuesday,” she added, “but right now we’re encouraging people in Cullman County to review their weather plans, to be sure they’ve got batteries for their flash lights and weather radios, and to have more than one way of getting a weather alert.”

Though the timing could shift before the system arrives on Wednesday, the weather service currently expects an all-day storm event for Cullman County, potentially stretching past midnight Wednesday and into Thursday morning. “Large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes will be possible, along with an additional threat from locally heavy rainfall and flooding,” the NWS advised in its hazardous weather outlook for Wednesday.