Severe storms possible Tuesday night in Alabama: What we know today

A line of strong to severe storms is expected to move across Alabama starting on Tuesday night.

Damaging winds, heavy rain and a tornado or two will be possible, according to forecasters.

The key points from National Weather Service:

* There will be a Level 2 out of 5 risk for severe weather for most of the state on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. A Level 2 risk means that scattered severe storms will be possible. Eastern Alabama will have a Level 1 risk and could experience isolated severe storms.

* Tuesday could be very windy — even before the storms arrive. The weather service has issued wind advisories for most of the state that will go into effect at noon on Tuesday. Sustained winds of 15-25 mph and gusts as high as 40 mph will be possible through Wednesday morning.

The Alabama counties in brown will be under wind advisories starting at noon on Tuesday.NWS

Here are some of the details:

Forecasters think Tuesday’s storms could reach Alabama’s western border between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday and quickly track eastward (see more details on timing below). Storms are expected to be the strongest over west Alabama.

The environment won’t be the best for a full-blown severe weather event, but several severe storms will be possible.

The strongest of those could have wind gusts from 60 mph to even 70 mph, according to the weather service, which could take down trees and power lines.

A few tornadoes will also be possible along the line of storms. They will likely be those hard-to-warn-for quick-hitting spin-ups that are there and gone within a few minutes.

Since the storms will affect parts of Alabama overnight it’s important to have a way to get severe weather warnings that will wake you up if need be. Some of those are a NOAA weather radio and phone apps.

Make sure you don’t set your phone on silent on Tuesday night.

Another thing to look out for is the wind on Tuesday, when wind advisories will go into effect for most of the state. The weather service said that sustained winds could be 15-25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph from Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning.

The storms are expected to move out of Alabama on Wednesday morning and cooler and calmer weather is expected on Wednesday through Friday.

The next chance for rain is expected to arrive over the weekend. So far no severe weather is in the forecast for Alabama with that next system.

Here’s a look at the timing from the weather service:

NORTH ALABAMA