The National Weather Service has issued severe thunderstorm watch tonight until 9 p.m. for the Golden Triangle and much of central Mississippi. Strong storms are expected to move into the area during the night, producing damaging winds, lightning, hail and the possibility of a few tornadoes.
The thunderstorm watch includes counties near U.S. Highway 82 into central Mississippi. The following counties are included in the watch area: Attala, Choctaw, Holmes, Humphreys, Leake, Madison and Yazoo in central Mississippi; Neshoba, Noxubee and Winston in east central Mississippi; Carroll, Grenada, Leflore, Montgomery and Webster in north central Mississippi; Clay, Lowndes, and Oktibbeha in northeast Mississippi; Sunflower and Washington in northwest Mississippi; and Issaquena, Sharkey and Warren in west central Mississippi.
North Mississippi is under a tornado watch until 9 p.m., which means conditions are favorable for tornadoes to form. The following counties are in the tornado watch area: Alcorn, Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Coahoma, DeSoto, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Marshall, Monroe, Panola, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union and Yalobusha.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Monroe County at 4:29 p.m. According to WTVA meteorologist Jennifer Watson, a trained spotter reported a thunderstorm with gusts of 60 mph moving through eastern Monroe County. The tornado warning expired for Monroe County at 4:45 p.m. and a new one has been issued for west central Alabama.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency issued a statement this afternoon encouraging residents to monitor the weather situation closely and make certain they have an action plan and a way to receive weather alerts while sleeping.
More severe weather is expected on Friday.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
