National Weather Service Alabama

Alabama is getting a blast of cold, dry air this week, with some cities in the state opening up warming stations in the evenings and overnight. The National Weather Service is issuing a freeze warning for parts of Alabama and reminding about cold weather safety.

Alabama is welcoming cooler weather, and the lower temperatures are sticking around— at least for a little while. Alabama forecasters say the coldest mornings this week will be early on Wednesday and Thursday. With this chill comes the potential for frost in some areas.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami is keeping an eye on a system that could become Tropical Storm Ernesto early this week. The agency says there’s an 80% chance the area of disturbed weather could develop into a named storm. This comes as the center reminds Alabama Gulf coast residents and the nation that elements are lining up to make the peak of the 2024 hurricane season especially active.

Hurricane Beryl ripped off roofs in Jamaica, jumbled fishing boats in Barbados and damaged or destroyed 95% of homes on a pair of islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines before rumbling toward the Cayman Islands and taking aim at Mexico's Caribbean coast after leaving at least seven dead in its wake.

Hurricane Beryl roared through open waters on Tuesday as a monstrous Category 5 storm heading toward Jamaica after earlier making landfall in the southeast Caribbean, killing at least six people. A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and for Haiti's entire southern coast.

Alabamians are remembering the devasting tornado outbreak that destroyed communities across the state on April 27, 2011. According to the National Weather Service, the super-outbreak affected 26 states across the Southeast, but Alabama saw the worst destruction.

The Mobile County Health Department and its Family Health locations are among the facilities closing today because of the threat of violent weather. Forecasters with the National Weather Service are predicting severe storms, with wind gusts of up to eighty miles per hour. There’s also the possibility of tornadoes as strong as EF2’s. Other governmental offices and schools are responding as well.

The National Weather Service says a survey team will be assessing possible tornado damage in Dallas and Chilton counties after a round of severe weather blew through Alabama.

April is considered the most active spring month for tornadoes in Alabama. The National Weather Service (NWS) says the State’s primary tornado season is early March to May, with the largest number of tornadoes occurring in the month of April.

The purpose of Severe Weather Awareness Week is to provide people with the knowledge necessary to protect their lives when severe weather threatens.