Michael Continues To Strengthen; Our Impacts Still Minimal
Hurricane Michael continues to strengthen early this afternoon. Its maximum sustained winds are up to 110 mph, making Michael very nearly a Category 3 storm. The National Hurricane Center forecasts further strengthening to a Category 3 with sustained winds to 125 mph by Wednesday morning. Landfall looks likely near Panama City Beach Wednesday afternoon. Michael then churns into southwestern Georgia, and the greatest impacts will be close to its central core. For Alabama, the tropical storm force winds will be limited to mainly the Wiregrass. Tropical storm gust could extend as far north as an Andalusia to Auburn line. Rain amounts of 3-6″ are possible across the Wiregrass, with amounts of 2-4″ possible further northwest to the Andalusia-Auburn line. Westward up to about the I-65 corridor, much lower impacts with gusts mainly in the 20s and rain up to 2″ are expected. Michael moves quickly to our east by Thursday, with rainfall quickly tapering off.
Back to the near term- we’ll have a mostly cloudy sky to overcast sky through Tuesday afternoon. A few isolated showers are possible into early this evening. Tonight should be dry with the clouds hanging around. Lows only fall into the mid 70s. On Wednesday, rain from Michael could work its way into southeast Alabama by the morning, with more widespread rain by the afternoon/evening as Michael moves onshore. It looks like much of the rain will remain along/east of I-65 and along/south of I-85.
A welcome sight- drier and cooler air moves in on the backside of Michael on Friday. High temperatures only top out in the low 80s. The weekend looks dry with sunshine and highs in the low 80s Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Friday and Saturday night low temperatures finally dip into the 50s. Another front heads our way next Monday. That provides a slight chance for rain and another cooldown. High are forecast in the 70s next Monday and Tuesday.
