Extreme Wind Event Friday, Plus Storm & Flood Threat Friday Morning
Thursday Night Forecast Update
Thursday Night Forecast Update for March 2nd:
Non severe storms producing heavy rain, plenty of lightning and 30 MPH wind gusts are moving through West TN between 11pm-1am. They will move through Jackson between 11:15-midnight and continue to track to the north. Some stronger storms are expected in the morning between 6am-noon. We are going to see patches of heavy rain and scattered storms moving into West Tennessee tonight, but I think the severe weather threat will hold off until around sunrise. Heavy rain though will increase the flood threat overnight.
Plus, non thunderstorm southwest winds will gust up 60 MPH on Friday. We do not get many high wind warnings issued here in West Tennessee so understand this is a pretty rare event and the winds will be strong enough to blow down trees and power lines. Numerous power outages are expected. Travel will be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. With all of the recent rains soils are wet and trees should come down much easier. We will have a full report right here.
TONIGHT:
Thursday night is shaping up to be a very tricky day to forecast for the Mid South. Skies will remain mostly cloudy and rain/storm chance increase as the night goes on. The winds will begin to pick up speed out of the southeast and increase quickly in the morning hours as the next system gets a little closer. A wind advisory goes in effect from midnight to 6am.
Highs on Thursday reached the mid to upper 60s and overnight lows will only drop to the low 60s. The first round showers and storms could move through as early as 9PM but many of the early night storms will stay west of the Mississippi River. The line of storms will crawl slowly to west into Friday morning and move through our area.
A severe storm threat also looks to return late Thursday for West Tennessee, but a potential tornado outbreak could impact our neighbors to the south so we need to watch this system closely. If the system shifts to the north some we could see some significant storms in our area. Regardless of who sees the worst weather across the Mid South from this system, we are still going to be impacted by some pretty nasty storms as the system moves through.
FRIDAY:
An extreme wind event looks likely across West Tennessee Friday and these winds are expected to be intense regardless if you are impacted by a thunderstorm or not. Non storm winds could gust as high as 60 MPH and be sustained at times between 25-35 MPH. This is due to a very tight pressure gradient setting up from this potent low pressure system and cold front as it comes through.
The winds are expected to increase around sunrise and get stronger as the morning goes on and peaking in the late morning and early afternoon hours. The winds will be begin to weaken as the afternoon goes on but we are expecting several hours or intense winds across West Tennessee. Here are some safety tips and reminders as to what you can expect from a high wind warning type event.
Some early morning and storms still could also be sticking around of the first half of the day on Friday before the storm system races off to the east. Some of the storms could be strong Friday morning, so don’t let your guard down until this system clears out. After picking up a couple inches of rain on Wednesday, and with a couple more possible, a flood watch has been issued by the National Weather Service through noon Friday.
Highs on Friday will be a little cooler reaching the mid to upper 50s behind the cold front. The winds on Friday will start out of the southwest and turn to the northwest after the front passes late in the evening. We could be looking at some very windy weather again during the day on Friday. Friday night lows will return to the 30s and the skies will clear out by Friday night.
THE WEEKEND:
We are expecting a very normal first weekend on March across West Tennessee. We are expecting dry weather with highs only reaching the 50s. Sunday is expected to be warmer than Saturday by a few degrees. Both morning we are expecting to start out in the 30s but the current forecast keeps us above freezing both days. Expect mostly sunny skies this weekend as well. The winds will come out of the northwest on Saturday and out of the northeast on Sunday. The winds will shift back to the south on Monday starting a warming trend again across the region.
FINAL THOUGHT:
After the coldest Christmas in decades here in West Tennessee, warmer weather returned for the start of the new year, and has stayed above normal most of the month of February. The next chance for rain and storms is coming in the middle of this week, no winter storms are currently in the forecast but in will be a little cooler on Friday. You need to stay weather aware to changing weather patterns and monitor the forecasts closely. We got you covered in the WBBJ 7 Storm Team Weather Center as always.
For tips on preparing for the storms, click here. To download the WBBJ 7 Weather app, click here.
Storm Team Chief Meteorologist
Joel Barnes
Facebook: @JoelBarnesWeather
Twitter: @JoelBarnes13
Instagram: @joelbarnes13
