Wednesday set to be weather alert day for Warren County
Published 3:38 pm Tuesday, March 29, 2022
A weather alert day has been reported by the National Weather Service for Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Senior forecaster Mike Edmonston said the most heightened threat for Warren County will be gradient winds even before any line of weather moves into the area.
“We are going to be under a wind advisory and strong wind gusts of 55 mph will not be out of the question,” Edmonston said, which could cause downed trees and power outages.
It’s going to be a very windy day, he said, with sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph. Edmonston said these winds are expected to blow in around 10 a.m. before any of the severe weather moves into the area.
A line of storms with a “more prominent threat,” he said, would move in between noon and 1 p.m.
“We are talking wind speeds up to 80 mph as the line moves into portions of Vicksburg,” Edmonston said.
In addition to the winds, Edmonston said there is the potential for tornadoes.
“A few of those tornadoes may be strong but we are not really looking for a tornado outbreak or as many as we had with the previous system,” he said.
Edmonston said the line of storms should be out of the area by 3 p.m., moving east.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, the Vicksburg Warren School District had not canceled classes.
“We have not made any changes to our regular schedule,” VWSD director of communications Christi Kilroy said.
Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said he thinks the schools have made the best decision.
“I have been of the opinion that the kids are better in a robust building because not everybody lives in a brick house,” Elfer said. “There is also food and security, and that might be the only meal that child gets is what they get at school.”
Also as of Tuesday afternoon, the Vicksburg Catholic School and Porters Chapel Academy have made the decision to hold classes on Wednesday.
Elfer, who gets his information from the Jackson Weather Service and stays in communications with the schools, the sheriff’s department, the mayor’s office said they will continue to monitor the situation.
“We will just have to evaluate it as we get into the afternoon (Tuesday),” he said. “It’s a very difficult decision when you are going by changing data and it changes hourly.”
Although the VWSD will hold classes on Wednesday, their K for a Day event has been canceled.
Kilroy said, it was not because of potential storms, but because of rain. As part of the K for a Day, which is geared towards rising Pre-K and Kindergarten children in the district, packets were to be handed out during a drive-thru in the parking lot at VWSD’s Central Support Offices.