Officials monitoring stormy weather

MOBILE, Ala. - UPDATE: Patriot Place Boulevard in Pace has been closed due to standing water.

6 a.m.  Crews are out looking for downed trees and debris that may be blocking the roadway. Baldwin County authorities have had to move at least two trees off the roadway already. One was off county road 9 in Marlow near Rigby lane. The other was off county road 48 in Silverhill near Boulder road. Both roads are now clear.
 

Forecasters at the National Weather Service in Mobile are in for a long night.

Monitoring the weather is an around the clock job at the National Weather Service. Our public service agencies rely on the information that the forecasters put out.

"What the National Weather Service has really evolved into over the last fifteen or twenty years is, essentially, a support service for decision makers, whether that be someone in the public or someone in emergency management or a mayor or even a governor," said Jeff Garmon the Warning Coordinator at NOAA.

Through the darkness of night, the powerful radar systems show a clear view of massive low pressure system making it's way onshore. Combining the radar and satellite images with wind, rain and temperature models, forecasters are predicting with a high degree that we are in for quite a pounding.

"With the significant weather coming through, it's not just the coastal flood threat, it's the possibility of that warm front moving in, a lot of instability coming up to the coast and the possibility of a few rotating thunderstorms tonight that could produce some isolated tornadoes," Garmon said.

Garmon says the heavy rains will threaten our area bringing five to eight inches of rain.

"We would recommend folks to really kind of know what's going on before you light out for work. What condition are the roads in? Our local broadcasters do an excellent job getting that kind of information out during the morning hours," he said.

The heaviest rains are expected overnight, and that means by the time you wake up in the morning, there could be some flooding.