12/23 – Brantly’s “Severe Threat Through Early Thursday” Forecast

An initial surge of warm air and moisture has led to some areas of light rain showers already, but a line of stronger storms is expected to roll through after midnight.

The combination of a squall line of widespread showers and isolated to scattered thunderstorms and the cold frontal passage will likely lead to a surge of strong winds gusting in the 35 to 45 mph range in areas generally south of the I-10 corridor. There remains a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms across most of the forecast area for tonight, so we will have potential for marginally severe wind gusts near 60 mph and cannot rule out an isolated tornado or two. Stronger northwest winds behind the cold front will linger near the coast through much of the day on Thursday and the National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory for these coastal areas from 2 am to 4 pm Thursday.

Temperatures will be significantly cooler Thursday with highs struggling to reach 50 degrees through the day tomorrow. Lows Thursday night will fall into the upper 20s and lower 30s across the entire forecast area. Wind chills will fall into the lower to middle 20s over much of the area.

Friday will remain very cold even as high pressure becomes directly centered over the area. Highs will struggle to reach 50 degrees once again, and a very cold night is anticipated Friday night with lows falling back into the upper 20s and lower 30s. There is the potential a few areas mainly along the Pearl and Pascagoula River basins could dip into the middle 20s.

On the water, gale conditions will persist through Thursday evening before easing back into small craft advisory range late Thursday night into Friday. By Friday night, high pressure will be firmly centered over the area, and winds will quickly fall below 15 knots. Very rough seas of 10 to 15 knots expected on Thursday will also quickly fall back to 3 to 5 feet by late Friday night. The high will remain over the area over the weekend with winds of less than 10 knots and seas of 1 to 3 feet expected.