Updated 7:55 p.m.:
A tornado watch for all of Northeast Florida has been lifted after nearly eight hours Sunday as a squall line moves off the East Coast. Meanwhile, public schools are closed Monday in South Georgia’s Brantley and Ware Counties due to damage from Sunday’s storms.
School officials from both districts announced the closures late Sunday because flooding blocked several roads.
Brantley Schools plan to reopen Tuesday, Jan. 24.
Ware County School officials will meet with police and emergency managers Monday afternoon to determine when schools will reopen there.
Original post below:
The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for most of Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia as a squall line moves eastward across the northern Panhandle. Severe thunderstorms can quickly produce tornadoes. The warning will last until at least 7:15 p.m.
The system is expected to reach the Jacksonville area some time between 6:30 and 7:30 Sunday evening
National Weather Service meteorologist Pete Wolf says similar weather patterns have caused memorable destruction in the past.
“The pattern that we’re in is very rare. In fact, the last time I recall it in our area of the country was back with the super storm in 1993, in that we had a significant tornado outbreak across the Florida peninsula,” he said.
Another example of a similar pattern, he said, was during the 2011 tornado outbreak in Alabama that killed 52 people. Conditions are ripe Sunday for sustained, powerful tornadoes. The worst weather conditions are expected in mid- to late afternoon along the I-75 corridor and then along the I-95 corridor between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Wolf urges people to take tornado warnings seriously and to keep an eye on the sky, as conditions can change quickly.
Stay tuned to 89.9 WJCT-FM for live weather updates from Florida Public Radio Emergency Network meteorologist Jeff Huffman, and download the Florida Storms smartphone app for up-to-the-second warnings.
Here's the forecast for the times and locations of the most severe weather Sunday:
- – Panhandle (Tallahassee): 9 am to 3 pm
- – North Florida (Jacksonville, Gainesville, Ocala, ): Noon to 8 pm
- – Central Florida (Tampa, Orlando): 3 to 10 pm
- – South Florida (Ft. Myers, Miami, Ft Pierce): 9 pm to 3 am
