There are Hurricane Warnings for Mobile and Baldwin Counties, and all counties to the west along the Mississippi Coast. Tropical Storm Warnings cover all inland counties and counties in northwest Florida. Tropical Storm Nate gets into the Gulf tonight and strengthens. Saturday it will likely become a hurricane that will come toward us with the impacts of high wind, storm surge, rain, and possible tornadoes. Put your plan in action.
Landfall is likely west or near the Mobile Bay area but the impacts won’t just be near the center of the storm. The highest wind will be near the center of the storm, and higher winds in general will be along the coasts.
Nate is a steady mover so the odds of it getting very strong or producing extreme wind are low. Even as a minimal Category 1 hurricane, it’s more likely to be a smaller storm than larger and that helps to limit degree of surge and high wind. There’s a small possibility of some tornadoes Saturday night and Sunday.
Rain and thunderstorms increase on a breezy Saturday afternoon. Rain coverage of 80% for both Saturday and Sunday add up to 3 to 6 inches. Some communities may see double those amounts if you get caught under a steady feeder band.
Storm surge along the coast and along rivers that feed out to bays or the coast could range from as high as 6 or 8 feet along the Alabama/Mississippi line to 4 to 6 feet toward Choctawhatchee Bay.
Expect a Flash Flood Watch on Saturday afternoon and maybe a tornado watch too. Those potential threats would last into Sunday.
Alan Sealls, WKRG-TV Chief Meteorologist
Mobile, Alabama
