Compared with the afternoon desk (quiet-pulse-2026-10-16-afternoon): Severe Thunderstorm Watches 686 and 687 have fully expired. SPC current watches page (updated ~0213Z October 17) lists no convective watches valid. The low-topped convective line has moved offshore; associated convection weakened.
SPC Day 1 Convective Outlook issued 0750 PM CDT Friday, October 16, 2026 (0100Z October 17, valid 170100Z–171200Z) shows NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AREAS FORECAST. The prior Slight Risk over the Mid-Atlantic into southern New England has ended with cold-front passage.
WPC Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook (updated 0059 UTC October 17 / ~8:58 PM EDT Friday, valid 01Z–12Z October 17) holds only a Marginal Risk across portions of southeast Florida. Heavy rainfall coverage is declining overnight; localized urban flash-flood risk may linger a few hours. No Moderate or higher.
Tropical lane remains closed for the United States. NHC: no tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, Caribbean, or Gulf of America; formation not expected during the next 7 days. Eastern Pacific Hurricane Trudy (90 mph, approaching southwestern Mexico) and remnants of Simon are offshore Mexico only. No U.S. land or Gulf threat.
Preliminary local storm reports from the convective day logged numerous wind damage reports (trees, wires, power lines) primarily across Pennsylvania and into New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. No tornado or hail reports. Severe potential is now low.
Live Status
As of this late evening update to the October 16, 2026 morning desk (approximately 8:12 PM PDT / 11:12 PM EDT / 0312Z October 17), the severe weather lane is closed. The SPC 0100Z Day 1 outlook confirms no severe thunderstorm areas are forecast through the remainder of the night. A strong cold front has swept the Mid-Atlantic and southern New England; the low-topped convection that produced damaging winds earlier under the Slight Risk and Watches 686/687 has weakened or moved offshore. Sporadic thunderstorm activity may linger briefly in residual areas, but post-frontal conditions limit any further severe potential. Ongoing storms over the Florida Peninsula are generally weakening, with some residual activity possible overnight near the Keys and near-coastal areas.
The flood lane stays at Marginal only over southeast Florida, where seasonably high moisture supported earlier heavy downpours. Coverage is on the decline, though isolated urban flooding remains possible for a few more hours where slow-moving cells drop 2–3 inches in an hour. The progressive nature of the front limited Mid-Atlantic rainfall to minor ponding. No higher-end excessive rainfall risk is in effect. No tropical storm or hurricane watches or warnings affect the U.S. coast or Gulf of America. Separate non-convective High Wind Warnings remain in effect in parts of southern California and Arizona through Saturday.
Pulse Table
Lane
Status
Notes (as of ~8:12 PM PDT / 11:12 PM EDT / 0312Z 17 Oct 2026)
Tropical
None
No named systems threatening U.S. land or Gulf. Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of America quiet; formation not expected next 7 days. Pacific systems (Hurricane Trudy) offshore Mexico only.
Severe
Quiet
SPC Day 1: NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AREAS FORECAST (0100Z outlook). Prior Mid-Atlantic/southern New England Slight Risk ended with front passage. No convective watches valid. Earlier wind LSRs (trees/wires) mainly PA into NJ/MA/CT; potential now low.
Flood
Marginal
WPC Day 1 Marginal Risk southeast Florida only. Heavy rain coverage declining overnight; localized urban risk possible a few more hours. No Moderate or higher.
Restoration Read
With the severe lane closed, the dominant restoration ticket from earlier in the day (Mid-Atlantic into southern New England wind damage under the Slight Risk and Watches 686/687) is now residual. Teams covering the I-95 corridor from the Washington DC metro through Philadelphia, New Jersey, the New York City area, and into southern New England should assess any remaining tree, wire, and power-line damage from the progressive low-topped line. Standard verification of any lingering local warnings applies, but organized severe potential has ended. Flood remains Marginal only in southeast Florida and does not drive a national water response. No tropical surge or coastal claims. Separate non-convective High Wind Warnings in southern California and Arizona are outside the convective scope. Turn around, don’t drown remains the standing message on any flooded roads.
Rising Queries
Trends unreachable.
Informational only — not an official warning. This is a morning desk summary of public National Weather Service, Storm Prediction Center, Weather Prediction Center, and National Hurricane Center products as of approximately 8:12 PM PDT on October 16, 2026. Always confirm with the latest official forecasts and local authorities. Turn around, don’t drown.
This is the Friday morning Storm Tracker desk for October 9, 2026. Overnight into this morning the organized severe window moved from a small Iowa hail threat to the northern Gulf Coast. The Storm Prediction Center 1300 UTC Day 1 convective outlook, issued 7:57 a.m. CDT, places a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms across northern Florida, southeast Alabama, and southwest Georgia. The driver is Hurricane Isaias, still offshore. No convective watches are valid. The Weather Prediction Center holds a Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall over southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, and southwest Georgia.
Isaias has not made U.S. landfall. National Hurricane Center Intermediate Advisory 11A, corrected, at 7:00 a.m. CDT places the center near 27.0N 87.7W, about 245 miles south of Pensacola and about 170 miles south-southeast of the Mouth of the Mississippi River. Maximum sustained winds are near 110 mph, movement north-northeast near 15 mph, minimum pressure 958 mb. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 miles. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles. NHC says Isaias is on the cusp of major-hurricane strength, is likely to become a major hurricane this morning, and is expected to remain a dangerous hurricane at landfall this evening or tonight inside the warning area. Preparations in the storm-surge and hurricane warning areas should be completed within the next few hours.
These remain county- and ZIP-scale hazards until the core comes ashore. Verify with the National Weather Service for the specific county or ZIP before you roll. Conditions change with the next advisory.
What is live this morning
SPC lists no convective watches currently valid. The watch board’s most recent number, Severe Thunderstorm Watch 676, was a west-central Texas watch from the afternoon of September 30 and expired at midnight CDT that night. It is not a live product. The next Day 1 outlook is scheduled by 1630 UTC. Tornado potential is forecast to increase this afternoon and continue tonight, especially across the Florida Panhandle into southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia, as eastern rainbands spread north and low-level winds and storm-relative helicity strengthen. SPC also notes some enhancement to the wind field, including a convective influence, across southern Alabama near the evolving inverted surface trough late this afternoon into tonight.
The Slight Risk area covers about 25,034 square miles and roughly 1.97 million people. Larger centers named by SPC include Tallahassee, Dothan, Pensacola, Valdosta, and Panama City. The surrounding Marginal Risk covers about 42,289 square miles and roughly 3.98 million people, with larger centers including Jacksonville, Mobile, Savannah, Gainesville, and Albany. NHC tornado language is narrower in time: a tornado risk beginning late this afternoon and continuing tonight in coastal Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, and far southwest Georgia, then continuing Saturday across parts of eastern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
Tropical warnings are the live watch equivalent this morning. A Storm Surge Warning runs from the Mouth of the Mississippi River to the Suwannee River. A Hurricane Warning runs from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay/Gulf County line in Florida. Tropical Storm Warnings cover the Jefferson/Plaquemines Parish line in Louisiana to west of Ocean Springs, and the Florida coast east of the Bay/Gulf County line to the Aucilla River. A Storm Surge Watch continues from the Suwannee River to Yankeetown, Florida. Intermediate Advisory 11A corrected the surge values. If the peak coincides with high tide, water could reach 6 to 9 feet above ground from the Alabama/Florida border to Grayton Beach; 4 to 6 feet from Dauphin Island to the Alabama/Florida border and in Mobile Bay; 4 to 7 feet from Grayton Beach to Indian Pass; 4 to 6 feet from Indian Pass to the Steinhatchee River; 3 to 5 feet from Steinhatchee to the Suwannee and from the Mouth of the Mississippi to Dauphin Island; and 2 to 4 feet from the Suwannee to Yankeetown.
Hurricane conditions are expected in the hurricane warning tonight into early Saturday, with tropical storm conditions beginning later today. Tropical storm conditions are expected in the warning areas beginning in the next few hours from the 7:00 a.m. CDT advisory.
Overnight into this morning
The convective day that closed at 1159 UTC this morning did not produce a tornado or wind report on the SPC filtered log. It did produce hail. The overnight reports sit on yesterday’s Iowa Marginal Risk, not on the Gulf. SPC lists 1.00-inch hail 2 miles south of Sioux Center, Iowa, at 0226 UTC; 1.50-inch hail at Panora in Guthrie County at 0237 UTC; 1.00-inch hail at Orange City; 1.00-inch hail at Redfield in Dallas County at 0305 UTC; 1.50-inch hail at Ireton; 1.25-inch hail at Wall Lake in Sac County at 0320 UTC; 1.50-inch hail at Cherokee at 0337 UTC; 1.25-inch hail west of Norwalk in Warren County at 0401 UTC; 1.50-inch hail at Alcester in Union County, South Dakota, at 0532 UTC; and a measured 1.00-inch hail on the 200 block of Lloyd Street in Lake City, Calhoun County, at 0552 UTC. Those are preliminary local storm reports. They are the just-hit record from last night. They are not a continuing Iowa watch.
Thursday evening flash-flood products on the national summary were short-fused and have expired for this desk. Jacksonville issued a flash flood warning for east-central Nassau County, including Fernandina Beach, Yulee, and Amelia City, at 5:19 p.m. EDT Thursday, with 2 to 4 inches already down and another 1 to 2 inches possible, until 7:00 p.m. EDT. Honolulu issued a flash flood warning for Oahu at 10:21 a.m. HST Thursday after water over Kamehameha Highway on the North Shore, until 1:15 p.m. HST. Neither is a live warning this morning. Storm-surge warnings on the northern Gulf Coast from Thursday evening remain the standing coastal product and match the NHC warning.
Water pulse
WPC’s Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook, updated 0825 UTC and discussed at 4:28 a.m. EDT, keeps a Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall in southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, and southwest Georgia, valid 12 UTC Friday through 12 UTC Saturday. WPC says numerous instances of flash flooding are likely, some significant, and that the outlook is consistent with the previous forecast. Heavier rain rates ramp up closer to landfall and after, as the strongest instability in the southeast quadrant reaches the coast. The flash-flood threat should increase markedly from late Friday afternoon into Friday night.
Two corridors matter. Inner-core and eyewall rain is the coastal problem in southern Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, highest closest to the coast. Farther east, a training band along the instability gradient can sit about 200 miles east of the landfall point. WPC says that band has better access to instability and deep tropical moisture, can produce double-digit totals of 10 inches or more if it trains, and may hold the event maximum. The Moderate Risk was nudged slightly east, including the chance the band sets up east of Tallahassee at times, and extended into southwest Georgia at least 100 miles inland. Inland along the track into eastern Mississippi and central Alabama stays at Slight for now, because shear is increasing and the inland flash-flood reach depends on whether the core holds together. NHC rainfall through the weekend is 4 to 8 inches across southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend, and southwest Georgia, with localized totals up to 15 inches in banding across the Panhandle and Big Bend. Much of the rest of the Southeast is forecast at 2 to 5 inches, with localized amounts up to 10 inches possible in the southern Appalachians and coastal Carolinas. River flooding is also expected, some of it significant.
Tornado in outer bands; damaging wind near the trough
SPC Slight; tornado risk late today into tonight
Live outlook, no convective watch
East of landfall, Big Bend into SW Georgia
Training rain, flash flood, local 10–15 inches
WPC Moderate excessive rainfall
Ramp late afternoon into tonight
Eastern Mississippi / central Alabama
Inland rain along the track if the core holds
WPC Slight
Track-dependent
Iowa / southeast South Dakota
Hail to 1.50 inches overnight
Yesterday’s Marginal; reports only
Expired overnight pulse
Rest of the CONUS severe map
No general thunderstorm watch
No convective watch valid
Quiet outside the Gulf corridor
Restoration read
This morning is still a prep window, and it is closing. The first exposure on the northern Gulf Coast is life-safety surge and wind, not a ticket count. Hurricane-force wind is a small radius, about 30 miles from the center, so structural wind damage will be concentrated near the landfall point inside the hurricane warning from Ocean Springs to the Bay/Gulf County line. Tropical-storm-force wind reaches much farther, out to about 185 miles, and that is the power, tree, and soft-roof radius that will show up well away from the eye. Surge of 6 to 9 feet above ground, if it verifies from the Alabama/Florida border to Grayton Beach, is the coastal floor and marina problem. It is not a uniform flood across the whole warning.
Water is the broader restoration pulse, and it is offset from the center. WPC is explicit that the training band east of landfall, on the order of 200 miles east, can hold the rainfall maximum. Crews that staff only the landfall pin will miss the flash-flood ground in the Florida Big Bend, around Tallahassee, and into southwest Georgia. Saturated roads, underpasses, and small creeks are the overnight into Saturday problem. River flooding follows. Iowa hail is a closed overnight note: roof and vehicle checks in Guthrie, Sioux, Sac, Cherokee, Dallas, Warren, and Calhoun counties, and at Alcester, South Dakota, not a new dispatch.
Do not treat a Slight Risk as a watch. SPC has not issued a tornado watch yet. The tornado window in NHC language opens late this afternoon in coastal Alabama, the Panhandle, and far southwest Georgia. If a watch goes up on the 1630 UTC outlook cycle, that is the afternoon desk’s update, not a fact this morning.
Looking ahead
Landfall is forecast tonight or early Saturday inside the hurricane warning. After landfall, gusty winds are expected well inland over the Southeast as the wind field grows in the trough interaction. Saturday’s tornado threat shifts across eastern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Rain of 2 to 5 inches, locally 10, reaches the southern Appalachians and coastal Carolinas through the weekend. The next complete NHC advisory is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. CDT. The next SPC Day 1 outlook is scheduled by 1630 UTC.
This is a morning snapshot from official National Weather Service, Storm Prediction Center, Weather Prediction Center, and National Hurricane Center products. It is not a warning, not a watch, and not a substitute for local emergency management. Hurricane, storm-surge, tropical-storm, tornado, and flash-flood products can be issued or canceled between desk cycles. Check weather.gov and hurricanes.gov for the county or ZIP before you travel or stage.
This is the Thursday morning Storm Tracker desk for October 8, 2026. Overnight into this morning the organized severe window stayed closed, then the 1300 UTC Day 1 outlook opened two small marginal areas. The live story is not a plains watch. It is Hurricane Isaias, now an 80 mph hurricane in the central Gulf of America, with hurricane and storm surge warnings already up on the northern Gulf Coast for a late Friday or early Saturday landfall.
The Storm Prediction Center 1300 UTC Day 1 convective outlook, updated 7:46 a.m. CDT and valid 1300 UTC Thursday through 1200 UTC Friday, carries a Marginal Risk across parts of the Florida Peninsula and across parts of the Upper Midwest and middle Missouri Valley. SPC had no convective watches in effect at 13:21 UTC. The most recently issued watch is 676, and it is not valid. Today’s SPC storm-report page, covering 1200 UTC Thursday through 1159 UTC Friday, had received no tornado, hail, or wind reports at the morning scan. The overnight 0100 UTC Day 1 outlook, issued 7:58 p.m. CDT Wednesday, carried no severe thunderstorm areas through daybreak.
These are county-scale warnings and a named tropical cyclone, not a scattered high-plains hail chase. Restoration exposure through Saturday is surge, wind, and interior water on the central Gulf Coast, plus a localized Florida flood pulse that is already on saturated ground. Conditions change with the next advisory. Verify with the National Weather Service for the specific county or ZIP before you roll.
What is live this morning
National Hurricane Center Intermediate Advisory 7A, 7:00 a.m. CDT, places Hurricane Isaias near 23.7N 90.6W, about 175 miles north-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 385 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River. Maximum sustained winds are near 80 mph. Minimum central pressure is 975 mb. Motion is east-northeast at 9 mph. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles from the center. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles. Hurricane Hunters were investigating the storm at advisory time.
A Storm Surge Warning is in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Steinhatchee River, Florida. A Hurricane Warning runs from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay/Gulf County line, Florida. A Tropical Storm Warning covers the Jefferson/Plaquemines Parish line, Louisiana, to west of Ocean Springs, and east of the Bay/Gulf County line to the Aucilla River, Florida. A Storm Surge Watch continues from the Steinhatchee River to Yankeetown, Florida. No watch or warning changes were made on the 7 a.m. intermediate advisory. Preparations along the warning area should be rushed to completion today. Landfall is forecast along the U.S. northern Gulf Coast inside the warning area late Friday or early Saturday. Additional strengthening is expected through early Friday, and Isaias is forecast to remain a dangerous hurricane as it approaches the coast Friday night.
Peak surge heights above ground, if the peak coincides with high tide: Ocean Springs to Indian Pass, 5 to 7 feet; Mobile Bay, 5 to 7 feet; mouth of the Mississippi River to Ocean Springs, 3 to 5 feet; Indian Pass to the Steinhatchee River, 4 to 6 feet; Steinhatchee River to Yankeetown, 2 to 4 feet; Lake Pontchartrain, 1 to 3 feet. The deepest water is expected along the immediate coast near and east of landfall, with large waves on top of the surge.
Hotspot 1 — Northern Gulf Coast hurricane warning
This is the warning, not a watch. Hurricane conditions are expected inside the Hurricane Warning Friday night into early Saturday, with tropical-storm conditions beginning Friday. Cities and counties on the warning corridor include Ocean Springs and the Mississippi coast east of there, coastal Alabama including Mobile Bay, and the Florida Panhandle through Bay County: Panama City, Panama City Beach, Mexico Beach, and Lynn Haven sit inside the local hurricane and storm surge warning language from the Tallahassee office. Tropical-storm conditions are expected farther west into southeast Louisiana and farther east toward the Aucilla River.
Rainfall from Friday through the weekend is forecast at 3 to 7 inches, with localized totals up to 10 inches, from far southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. Amounts of 1 to 3 inches, locally up to 5 inches, are possible across much of the Southeast as far north as the Tennessee Valley and the Carolinas. Flash and urban flooding, and isolated river flooding, are possible. Isolated tornadoes are possible Friday night in coastal Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, and far southwestern Georgia, then Saturday across eastern Alabama, Georgia, and northern Florida.
Restoration read: surge and wind first, water second. Roof, siding, awning, and porch damage is the Friday-night ticket where hurricane-force gusts verify. Surge flooding is a life-safety event before it is a drying job. Do not stage crews into the warning area once tropical-storm-force winds arrive. The interior water clock starts after the surge recedes and rainfall trains inland Saturday into the Tennessee Valley. Photograph only if it is safe and daylight remains.
Hotspot 2 — Florida Peninsula marginal tornado and flood
SPC’s categorical Marginal Risk on the middle Florida Peninsula is a 2 percent tornado probability, not a wind or hail area. Population centers named on the tornado graphic include Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Lakeland, and Brandon, about 4.2 million people inside roughly 7,900 square miles. Storms are focusing along a convectively reinforced front from the eastern Gulf across the middle Peninsula. Tampa Bay radar wind profiles sampled weak low-level flow with moderate directional turning and a speed increase above 3 km, netting about 25 to 30 knots of effective shear. SPC notes a low-confidence chance of a near-shore waterspout or a brief tornado inland near the front. That is not a high-confidence severe day. It is a brief-spin risk on an already wet front.
The Weather Prediction Center Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook, updated 0821 UTC and valid 12 UTC Thursday through 12 UTC Friday, keeps a Marginal Risk over much of the Florida Peninsula. A stalled front is still the driver. North Florida soils are fully saturated after consecutive rain days, so light to moderate rain converts to runoff. Isolated flash flooding is most likely where convection develops over a larger city such as Tampa or Orlando. Broader issues are poor drainage and urban streets, not a regional river flood. No Slight or Moderate excessive-rainfall area is on the Day 1 map.
Restoration read: Florida today is extraction on saturated ground and a brief tornado survey if one verifies near the front. It is not the Gulf landfall. Keep the Peninsula crew separate from the Panhandle warning.
Hotspot 3 — Iowa and the middle Missouri Valley tonight
The second Marginal Risk is elevated hail, not a daytime surface outbreak. SPC places a 5 percent hail probability over about 30,100 square miles and 1.7 million people, including Des Moines, Sioux City, Waterloo, Ames, and West Des Moines. Isolated to widely scattered elevated thunderstorms are expected tonight as warm advection and isentropic ascent increase northeast of a warm front. Moisture is modest. Mid-level moistening on the edge of the Plains elevated mixed layer is enough for a hail threat, not a damaging-wind area. No wind probabilities were drawn on the 1300 UTC outlook.
Restoration read: this is an overnight hail ticket if it verifies, roof and auto glass, not a watch-box wind event. Do not staff it like a Great Lakes slight risk. Check local warnings after dark before rolling.
Watches that expired versus what is still live
No SPC convective watch is live this morning. Wednesday’s afternoon desk already had a closed severe window, and the 0100 UTC update kept that closed through daybreak. The products that are live are tropical, not convective: the hurricane warning, the storm surge warning, the tropical storm warnings, and the storm surge watch listed above. Alaska winter-storm and high-wind warnings are in effect for parts of the Brooks Range, the Bering Strait coast, and the Alaska Range. Those are not the CONUS restoration pulse this desk is tracking.
Just-hit reports from last night are thin. SPC logged no severe reports on the Thursday page at the morning scan, consistent with the no-severe overnight outlook. The just-hit story is intensification, not damage: Isaias was a 65 mph tropical storm on Wednesday afternoon’s desk and is an 80 mph hurricane at 7 a.m. CDT, pressure down to 975 mb. No U.S. landfall has occurred. Swells reach the Yucatan later today and the Gulf Coast on Friday.
Pulse table
Region
Main threats
SPC / NHC / WPC level
Status this morning
Ocean Springs to Bay/Gulf County line
Hurricane wind, surge 5–7 ft, rain 3–7 in
Hurricane Warning; Storm Surge Warning
Live; landfall late Friday or early Saturday
SE Louisiana to west of Ocean Springs; east of Bay/Gulf line to Aucilla River
Tropical-storm wind, surge 3–5 ft west, 4–6 ft east
Tropical Storm Warning
Live; conditions Friday
Steinhatchee River to Yankeetown
Surge 2–4 ft
Storm Surge Watch
Watch, not a warning
Middle Florida Peninsula
Brief tornado or waterspout, urban flood
SPC Marginal (2% tornado); WPC Marginal
Live today; no watch
Iowa / middle Missouri Valley
Elevated hail tonight
SPC Marginal (5% hail)
Tonight; no wind area, no watch
CONUS severe watches
None
No SPC watch valid
Watch 676 expired; overnight outlook was no severe
What this means for restoration teams
Hurricane-force wind on a compact core, only about 15 miles of hurricane-force wind from the center at advisory time, is a narrow damage swath if the core holds, not a multi-state derecho. Tropical-storm winds and surge cover a much wider coast. A 5-to-7-foot surge is structural and contents loss on the immediate coast before it is a dry-out. Rainfall of 3 to 7 inches, locally 10, on the central Gulf Coast is the Saturday water ticket inland of the surge line. Friday-night tornadoes on the Alabama and Panhandle coast are a local survey, not the regional event.
For teams near the Hurricane Warning: finish exterior prep today. Do not plan a Friday-night arrival. Property owners inside the surge warning should follow local evacuation orders. The Florida Peninsula marginal is a separate, smaller desk. Iowa hail is an overnight check, not a morning dispatch.
What this is not
This is not a Slight or Enhanced severe-thunderstorm risk, and it is not an active SPC watch. It is also not a landfall that has already happened. Isaias is still about 385 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi. East Pacific Tropical Storm Simon is not a U.S. land threat this morning. The work, if it verifies, arrives Friday night into Saturday on the northern Gulf Coast, with a smaller Florida flood and tornado pulse today and an elevated hail chance in Iowa tonight.
Looking ahead
The next complete NHC advisory is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. CDT. Track, intensity, and the warning endpoints can shift before Friday night. SPC’s Day 4–8 outlook, issued 3:21 a.m. CDT, keeps potential too low for a 15 percent severe area through the period, but notes a Sunday shortwave tied to the tropical cyclone crossing the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys toward the Mid-Atlantic, with low predictability on destabilization, and a separate western trough later in the week. The afternoon desk should update the advisory, not assume this morning’s warning line is final.
Sources and how to verify
Primary sources: NOAA Storm Prediction Center 1300 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook for Thursday, October 8, 2026, and the 0100 UTC overnight outlook; SPC current watches page (no watches valid, updated 13:21 UTC); SPC storm reports for October 8; Weather Prediction Center Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook, updated 0821 UTC; National Hurricane Center Intermediate Advisory 7A for Hurricane Isaias, 7:00 a.m. CDT. Prior desk: Wednesday, October 7 afternoon storm updates.
Wednesday morning desk. Florida owns the water. The organized severe window is closed. Not an NWS warning.
This is the Wednesday morning Storm Tracker desk for October 7, 2026. Overnight into this morning the severe board stayed empty. The Storm Prediction Center 1300 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook, issued 7:43 a.m. CDT, has no severe thunderstorm areas forecast. Organized severe thunderstorms are unlikely across the United States today and tonight. No convective watches are valid. The Weather Prediction Center holds a Marginal Risk of excessive rainfall for much of the Florida Peninsula through 12 UTC Thursday, after a live flood warning on the Jacksonville metro from overnight rain.
These are county- and ZIP-scale flood and river tickets, not a plains outbreak and not a U.S. mainland hurricane landfall this morning. Tropical Storm Isaias is a Friday northern Gulf planning note. Conditions change fast. Verify with the National Weather Service for the specific county or ZIP before you roll.
What is live this morning
SPC language at 7:43 a.m. CDT: no tornado, wind, or hail risk areas. General thunderstorm areas remain drawn over parts of Florida, the northern tier into northern New York, and scattered western terrain, but that is thunder coverage, not a severe category. The most recent convective watch on the SPC board is Severe Thunderstorm Watch 676, issued September 30 for west-central Texas. It expired at midnight CDT that night. Nothing replaced it overnight.
West-central Florida is the place SPC is still watching, even with probabilities withheld. The setup looks like yesterday: a weak surface wave and a front from the northeast Gulf east-northeast across the middle of the Peninsula. Showers and some thunderstorms were already on either side of the front early this morning. The 12 UTC Tampa Bay sounding sampled 2.53 inches of precipitable water, with 70s dewpoints near and south of the front. Cloud cover and ongoing rain keep lapse rates poor and buoyancy thin. Effective shear is generally 25 knots or less. Some low-level veering could support a transient supercell, and waterspout potential exists offshore. SPC says it is unclear whether a tornadic waterspout reaches the west-central Peninsula or whether supercells develop inland. Severe risk stays low unless a later outlook adds probabilities. The next Day 1 update is scheduled by 1630 UTC.
Northern New York is the other convective note. Isolated low-topped thunderstorms are possible late today and more so tonight as an amplifying upper trough and a cold front approach. Buoyancy is limited. Gusty winds are plausible tonight as low- and mid-level flow increases and lapse rates steepen above the boundary layer. That is a local wind and lightning desk, not a watch.
Hotspot 1 — Florida Peninsula flood pulse
WPC’s Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook, updated 0831 UTC (5:03 a.m. EDT), keeps a Marginal Risk over much of the Florida Peninsula, valid 12 UTC Wednesday through 12 UTC Thursday. A slow, strong front stays draped across the northern Peninsula. South of it, precipitable water is above 2.25 inches. Light to moderate rain continues along I-4 and generally south of I-10, with localized convection that can stall. The Marginal is there because a cell that hits an urban or flood-prone spot can exceed flash-flood guidance. Four Corners showers this afternoon stay sub-Marginal on the WPC discussion.
The overnight ticket that already verified is Jacksonville. The National Weather Service in Jacksonville issued a Flood Warning at 5:20 a.m. EDT for southeastern Duval County and north-central St. Johns County, in effect until 8:15 a.m. EDT. Doppler radar showed heavy rain from thunderstorms. Between 3 and 7 inches had fallen, with up to 2 more inches possible. Locations named in the warning include Jacksonville, Arlington, Ponte Vedra Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Baymeadows, UNF, and Craig Field. Streams were still rising from the last 12 hours of runoff. That warning is short-fuse urban water, not a multi-day river crest.
River warnings are the slower desk. NWS Tampa Bay issued a Flood Warning at 6:34 a.m. EDT for the Withlacoochee at U.S. 41 Dunnellon, affecting Levy, Marion, and Citrus counties, until further notice. Minor flooding. Stage was 28.2 feet at 5:45 a.m. EDT, at flood stage, with docks and boat ramps flooding. The office tied the elevated stage to hydrilla acting like a dam along a 4.5-mile stretch between U.S. 41 and Lake Rousseau, with levels expected to stay steady or rise if more rain falls in the basin. NWS Melbourne continues a Flood Warning for the St. Johns River near Astor, affecting Volusia and Lake counties. At 8:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday the stage was 2.4 feet, flood stage 2.3 feet, with a rise toward 2.7 feet late this week. Docks, ramps, and low roads nearest the river are the impact language.
Restoration read: Jacksonville Beach through Arlington is the just-hit extraction window if water is inside. Do not wait on a severe watch that is not coming. Dunnellon and Astor are river-bottom and marina tickets, not a new convective outbreak. West-central Florida stays a monitor for a brief waterspout or a stalled cell, not a hail board.
Hotspot 2 — Iowa river aftermath
The Quad Cities office extended minor flood warnings Tuesday evening on the Cedar and Iowa rivers. Cedar River near Conesville, affecting Muscatine and Louisa counties, was at 13.9 feet at 8 p.m. CDT Tuesday, cresting, flood stage 13.0 feet, warning until late Thursday night, with water affecting residences along County Road F70. Iowa River at Oakville was 11.1 feet, flood stage 11.0, expected below flood stage Thursday afternoon. Iowa River at Wapello was 21.5 feet, flood stage 21.0, until Friday morning, with agricultural land and secondary roads in Wapello Bottoms in the impact language. Iowa River at Marengo, Iowa and Benton counties, remains under a warning until late Friday night. These are falling or cresting river tickets from earlier rain, not a new SPC day.
Restoration read: drying and access on the bottoms, not a hail or wind callout. Do not pull a plains severe crew for Louisa County this morning.
Just hit
SPC local storm reports for the window from 1200 UTC Tuesday through 1159 UTC Wednesday show no tornado, hail, or wind reports. Today’s report page, which opened at 1200 UTC Wednesday, is also empty as of this desk. Yesterday’s Marginal tornado area on the west-central Florida coast, and Mesoscale Discussion 2346, did not produce a logged land report. The 0100 UTC Tuesday-night outlook had already pulled severe probabilities after rotating storms weakened approaching the western peninsula shoreline.
The verified overnight hit is water, not wind: 3 to 7 inches in southeastern Duval and north-central St. Johns, with the Jacksonville flood warning still live into the morning commute. Panhandle work from earlier in the week remains aftermath. Nothing new was logged from a convective watch, because none was in effect.
Tropical note — Isaias, not a landfall
National Hurricane Center Advisory 3 at 4:00 a.m. CDT upgraded Tropical Depression Nine to Tropical Storm Isaias. Center near 22.0 N, 94.1 W, about 285 miles west of Progreso, Mexico, and about 580 miles southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River. Movement east-northeast near 8 mph. Maximum sustained winds near 40 mph. Minimum pressure 1004 mb. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles. No coastal watches or warnings are in effect. NHC says interests on the Yucatan Peninsula and the U.S. northern Gulf Coast should monitor the storm, and that hurricane watches will likely be required for a portion of the northern Gulf coast later today.
Forecast track: pass north of the Yucatan on Thursday and approach the U.S. northern Gulf Coast on Friday. Rapid strengthening is forecast, with Isaias expected to become a hurricane by Thursday. Rainfall on U.S. land is a Friday-through-weekend item, not this morning’s ticket: 3 to 6 inches, localized up to 10, from far southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, and 1 to 3 inches, localized up to 5, across much of the Southeast as far north as the Tennessee Valley and the Carolinas. Flash, urban, and isolated river flooding will be possible then. Swells reach the Gulf Coast late this week. Offshore hurricane and tropical-storm warnings are already on Gulf marine zones. That is marine, not a coastal warning for land. Hurricane Rachel is in the eastern Pacific, well west of Baja California, and is not a U.S. land threat this morning.
Pulse table
Region
Main threats
SPC / NWS / WPC level
Status this morning
Jacksonville metro / St. Johns
Urban flood, standing water, stream rise
NWS Flood Warning until 8:15 a.m. EDT; 3–7 inches overnight
Just hit, warning still live
Florida Peninsula
Training rain, urban flooding, brief waterspout offshore
WPC Marginal excessive rain; SPC no severe area
Live flood pulse; severe low
Withlacoochee at Dunnellon
Minor river flooding, docks and ramps
NWS Flood Warning until further notice
Live, hydrilla-elevated stage
St. Johns at Astor
Minor river flooding
NWS Flood Warning continues
Rising toward late week
Cedar and Iowa rivers
Minor river flooding, bottoms roads
NWS flood warnings into Thursday–Friday
Aftermath, cresting or falling
Northern New York
Low-topped storms, gusty wind tonight
SPC general thunder, no severe area
Late today into tonight
Northern Gulf / Isaias
Future wind, surge, 3–6 inches Friday–weekend
NHC TS, 40 mph; no land watches yet
Planning note, not a today landfall
What this means for restoration teams
This morning’s work is water that already fell. Three to seven inches in southeastern Duval and north-central St. Johns is wet drywall, soaked lower cabinets, and a 24–48 hour mold clock if water crossed the threshold. Standing water on Beach Boulevard corridors and low lots is an access problem before it is a rebuild. Photograph in daylight only if it is safe. Turn around, don’t drown.
Dunnellon and Astor are slower. Marina docks, ramps, and the first roads off the river are the exposure, not a roof-tarping line. Iowa bottoms are the same class of ticket farther north: agricultural land and secondary roads, residences along County Road F70 near Conesville if the stage holds. Do not staff those as a severe-wind event.
West-central Florida does not earn a severe board until SPC draws one. If a waterspout comes ashore, it is a narrow coastal survey, not a regional callout. Northern New York gusts tonight, if they verify, are tree-on-line and light roof work on a limited buoyancy profile.
Isaias is not a roll-today storm. Hurricane watches may come up later today for part of the northern Gulf coast. Friday is the approach day on the current NHC track, with the heavier rain from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle after that. Stage the planning conversation. Do not pull crews off the Jacksonville flood warning for a center that is still about 580 miles southwest of the Mississippi mouth.
What this is not
This is not a Slight Risk day and not a convective watch morning. SPC logged no severe reports overnight. It is not a U.S. mainland hurricane landfall. Offshore hurricane warnings on Gulf marine zones are for waters, not for a coastal county warning yet. The local-storm pattern this desk should staff is Florida urban water, two Florida river gauges, and leftover Iowa river flooding.
Looking ahead
SPC’s Day 2 outlook, issued late Tuesday night, also has no severe thunderstorm areas for Thursday. Isolated low-topped storms are possible from the upper Hudson Valley into Maine, with very small hail not ruled out under cold temperatures aloft. Florida keeps scattered afternoon storms in rich moisture as Isaias strengthens over the central Gulf, but Thursday severe is not expected on that outlook because of weak shear and poor lapse rates. The change to watch is NHC: hurricane watches likely later today for a portion of the northern Gulf coast, then the Friday approach. The afternoon desk should say whether SPC added a Florida severe probability and whether a land watch is up.
Sources and how to verify
Primary sources: NOAA Storm Prediction Center 1300 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook for Wednesday, October 7, 2026 (7:43 a.m. CDT); SPC current watches page (no watches valid; last issued watch 676, September 30); SPC preliminary local storm reports for October 6 and October 7; Weather Prediction Center Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook, updated 0831 UTC October 7; National Weather Service flood products from Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Melbourne, and Quad Cities; National Hurricane Center Tropical Storm Isaias Advisory 3, 4:00 a.m. CDT October 7.
This is the Tuesday morning Storm Tracker desk for October 6, 2026. Overnight into this morning the organized severe window stayed closed. The Storm Prediction Center 1300 UTC Day 1 convective outlook, updated 7:45 a.m. CDT by Guyer and Dean and valid 1300 UTC Tuesday through 1200 UTC Wednesday, carries no severe thunderstorm areas. The summary line is short: organized severe thunderstorms are unlikely today. The restoration ticket is water on a sagging Florida front, not a watch box. Conditions change fast. Verify with the National Weather Service for the specific county or ZIP before you roll.
What is live this morning
No convective watches are currently valid. SPC’s watch page, updated 13:20 UTC Tuesday, lists none. The most recently issued watch is still Severe Thunderstorm Watch 676. No mesoscale discussion is driving a severe box this morning. SPC’s storm-report page for the new convective day, 1200 UTC Tuesday through 1159 UTC Wednesday, shows no tornado, hail, or wind reports received. The prior convective day, 1200 UTC Monday through 1159 UTC Tuesday, also closed with no tornado, hail, or wind reports.
The only severe note on the Day 1 discussion is the central Florida Peninsula. Showers and some thunderstorms are common early today near a residual front from the northern Gulf to the north-central Peninsula. A weak surface low is expected to develop over the northeast Gulf, and some guidance advertises an increase in low- and mid-level flow late today into tonight. Early wind profiles are otherwise weak. The 12z Tampa Bay sounding is the reference. Shear-optimistic scenarios could support brief, transient rotation offshore. Destabilization inland is questionable: thin CAPE and poor mid-level lapse rates, about 5 to 5.5 C/km. SPC kept that below a probability. The next Day 1 outlook is scheduled by 1630 UTC.
Watches that expired overnight versus what is still live
Nothing convective expired overnight because nothing convective was valid. The 0100 UTC Day 1 outlook, written by Squitieri at 7:47 p.m. CDT Monday, already said organized severe thunderstorms were not forecast through tonight, with showers and thunderstorms continuing from the Gulf Coast into the Florida Peninsula and only isolated lightning possible over the Great Basin, southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, and the Upper Mississippi Valley.
The product that did expire was a flood warning, not a watch. National Weather Service Tallahassee issued a Flood Warning for Gadsden County in the Big Bend at 1:53 a.m. EDT, in effect until 5:00 a.m. EDT. At 1:51 a.m. EDT, Doppler radar indicated light rain remaining, with flooding already occurring. Between 7 and 11 inches had fallen, and another half inch to an inch was possible. Towns named in the polygon included Quincy, Midway, Havana, Greensboro, Gretna, Santa Clara, and Quincy Airport. That warning is off the board this morning.
A Special Marine Warning from Tallahassee at 2:48 a.m. CDT covered waters from the Okaloosa-Walton county line to Mexico Beach, 20 to 60 nautical miles offshore, until 4:45 a.m. CDT. Radar indicated a nearly stationary severe thunderstorm 24 nautical miles southeast of Okaloosa Deep Water Reef, or 29 nautical miles southwest of Panama City Beach, capable of waterspouts and gusts of 34 knots or greater. The text said the storm would remain over mainly open waters. That marine warning has expired. It is not a land tornado report, and SPC logged none.
What is still live is a Flood Watch, not a convective watch. National Weather Service Jacksonville at 1:12 a.m. EDT put a Flood Watch in effect from 10 a.m. EDT this morning through this evening for portions of northeast Florida and southeast Georgia. The Florida zones include coastal and inland Duval, coastal and inland Nassau, coastal and inland Flagler, eastern Clay, eastern Putnam, and coastal and inland St. Johns. Georgia coverage is coastal and inland Camden County. Named cities run from Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach, Yulee, and St. Augustine to Palatka, Palm Coast, Orange Park, Kingsland, and Woodbine. The watch calls for heavy rainbands off the Atlantic and locally 3 to 5 inches through the afternoon and early evening.
Hotspot 1 — Florida and far southeastern Georgia
This is the only excessive-rainfall polygon on the Weather Prediction Center Day 1 map. The outlook was updated 0821 UTC Tuesday, valid 12 UTC Tuesday through 12 UTC Wednesday. Wegman’s discussion at 4:30 a.m. EDT keeps a Marginal Risk for much of Florida and far southeastern Georgia. A very slow front sags south from Georgia and Alabama into north Florida. Dry, cool air sits north of it. A tropical, moisture-rich air mass sits south of it. WPC expects a widespread 1 to 3 inches over much of north Florida, with slow-moving tropical showers and embedded thunderstorms. Soils are saturated from prior days. The risk stays Marginal because the terrain is flat, rainfall rates are limited by marginal instability, and swampy ground should handle most of the rain. The isolated flood threat is aimed at urban and poor-drainage spots. Training cells can still produce more widely scattered flash flooding, hit and miss.
That is a step down from Monday afternoon, when the lower Texas coast still carried a small Marginal after a Slight was dropped, and a Marginal still covered the Florida Panhandle, northern and central Florida, and eastern Georgia. This morning the Texas coast is off the Day 1 excessive-rainfall map. Florida holds the ticket.
Restoration read: Gadsden County is the just-hit water desk. Quincy, Havana, and Midway are the towns named in a warning that expired before dawn, with 7 to 11 inches already indicated. Treat interior water found this morning as last night’s rain. The day work is the Jacksonville Flood Watch corridor if Atlantic rainbands sit on Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach, St. Augustine, or Kingsland. Staff pumps and drying equipment for poor drainage. Do not staff it as wind or hail. A Marginal excessive-rain risk is not a Slight severe risk.
Hotspot 2 — leftover river water, not a new pulse
River products already on the board are not the same as a flash-flood warning. National Weather Service St. Louis at 11:32 p.m. CDT Monday kept minor flooding on the Mississippi River at Louisiana, Missouri, stage 15.1 feet against a 15.0-foot flood stage, in effect until Wednesday afternoon, with a fall below flood stage expected this morning. The Missouri River near Chamois remains under a flood warning until Tuesday evening; the Monday morning stage was 17.0 feet at a 17.0-foot flood stage. National Weather Service Kansas City extended a flood warning for the Missouri River at Miami until Wednesday morning, with a fall below the 18.0-foot flood stage expected late this morning.
National Weather Service Quad Cities at 8:14 p.m. CDT Monday extended several Iowa warnings. The Wapsipinicon River near De Witt was at 12.0 feet against an 11.0-foot flood stage, with moderate flooding occurring and a crest of 12.7 feet forecast early Thursday; that warning runs until Monday afternoon, October 12. The Cedar River near Conesville was at 13.5 feet against 13.0, until late Thursday night. The Iowa River was in minor flood at Oakville, Wapello, and Marengo. National Weather Service Mobile holds a flood warning for the Shoal River near Crestview, in effect from Tuesday evening to late Thursday night, with a forecast rise above the 8.0-foot flood stage this evening to a crest of 8.2 feet early Wednesday. The St. Mary’s River at Macclenny, on the Florida-Georgia line, was at 12.7 feet Monday evening against a 12.0-foot flood stage, with a crest of 13.0 feet expected this evening and a warning until Thursday evening. National Weather Service Key West continues a coastal flood statement for the Florida Keys through Tuesday evening for minor saltwater flooding of low streets at high tide.
Restoration read: these are channel and tide tickets from earlier rain, not this morning’s convective pulse. Iowa river bottoms and the Shoal River rise are separate from the Florida front. Do not fold them into a severe claim.
Quiet severe pulse and the Gulf note
There is no Plains or Midwest severe desk this morning. The overnight outlook had surface high pressure setting in from the Great Lakes to the East Coast as an upper trough ejected into the Atlantic. Isolated thunderstorms were the only non-Florida convective note, and they did not produce logged wind, hail, or tornado reports.
Tropics are not a named U.S. land desk this morning. No named cyclone is threatening the mainland or is on the coast from an overnight landfall. The National Hurricane Center 8:00 a.m. EDT Tropical Weather Outlook says showers and thunderstorms are organizing with a broad low over the southwestern Gulf of America, tagged AL92. A tropical depression is anticipated over the next day or so while it drifts east. Formation chances are 90 percent through 48 hours and 90 percent through 7 days. NHC says the disturbance is expected to turn north or northeast toward the northern Gulf Coast by the end of the week, and that it is too early for specific impacts. Interests from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana should monitor it. A NOAA Gulfstream flight is scheduled later today and an Air Force reconnaissance flight tomorrow. That is a development note, not a landfall warning and not a named-storm file. The tropical-storm language on the national watch page overnight was an eastern Pacific offshore-Mexico waters forecast, not a Gulf Coast product.
Pulse table
Region
Main threats
SPC / WPC / NWS level
Status this morning
North Florida / far SE Georgia
Training rain, urban flood
WPC Marginal; no SPC severe area
Live; 1–3 inches, locally more
NE Florida / Camden County GA
Atlantic rainbands
JAX Flood Watch 10 a.m.–evening EDT
Live; locally 3–5 inches
Gadsden County FL (Quincy, Havana)
Just-hit flood
Warning expired 5 a.m. EDT
Aftermath; 7–11 inches indicated
Offshore Panama City Beach
Waterspout, marine gusts
Special Marine Warning expired 4:45 a.m. CDT
Open water; no land LSR
Central Florida Peninsula
Storms on residual front
No severe probability
Rotation threat kept offshore
Iowa rivers (Wapsipinicon, Cedar, Iowa)
Minor to moderate river flood
Flood warnings into late week
In channel, not a new pulse
Mississippi at Louisiana MO; Missouri River
Minor river flood
Flood warnings
Near or falling through flood stage
Shoal River near Crestview; St. Mary’s at Macclenny
River rise
Flood warnings
Crests tonight into Wednesday
Florida Keys
Minor saltwater flooding
Coastal flood statement through evening
High-tide streets
Southwestern Gulf (AL92)
Possible tropical depression
NHC 90% / 90%; not named
Monitor; not a land file yet
What this means for restoration teams
There is no wind or hail box to stage against. The morning work, if it is already inside a building, is Gadsden County water from a warning that expired before dawn. The day work is extraction timing if rainbands sit on the Jacksonville watch corridor, plus any poor-drainage street in north Florida that does not clear under the Marginal. Photograph standing water only if the road is clear. Turn around, don’t drown.
A Marginal Risk of excessive rainfall on flat, saturated ground is not the same job as a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms. Staff pumps, moisture meters, and drying equipment. Do not staff tarps for a watch that does not exist. River statements in Iowa, on the Missouri and Mississippi, and on the Shoal and St. Mary’s are separate from today’s front. They are slow water already in the channel.
What this is not
This is not a severe outbreak and not a U.S. mainland hurricane landfall. SPC’s categorical map is empty. No convective watch is valid. No preliminary tornado, hail, or wind report is on yesterday’s or today’s SPC log. AL92 is a high-chance disturbance that has not been named and has not put a tropical watch on the northern Gulf Coast. The local-storm pattern this desk should staff is training rain on a sagging Florida front, a just-hit Big Bend flood warning that expired, and leftover river water.
Looking ahead
SPC’s next Day 1 outlook is scheduled by 1630 UTC. WPC’s Day 1 window runs through 12 UTC Wednesday. The front stays the story across Florida. If AL92 becomes a tropical depression and turns toward the northern Gulf Coast later in the week, that becomes a tropical desk only after NHC names it or puts a watch on the coast. Until then it is a development note, not an overnight hit.
This is the Monday morning Storm Tracker desk for October 5, 2026. Overnight into this morning the organized severe window stayed closed. The Storm Prediction Center 1300 UTC Day 1 convective outlook, updated 7:32 a.m. CDT by Guyer and Dean and valid 1300 UTC Monday through 1200 UTC Tuesday, carries no severe thunderstorm areas. The summary line is short: severe thunderstorms are not expected today.
The larger restoration ticket is water, not a watch box. The Weather Prediction Center Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook, updated 0746 UTC and discussed at 3:57 a.m. EDT by Wegman, keeps a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall for the southern lower Texas coast, including Brownsville and coastal Willacy and Cameron counties. Southeast Alabama took radar-indicated flash flood warnings overnight that have since expired. Conditions change fast. Verify with the National Weather Service for the specific county or ZIP before you roll.
What is live this morning
No convective watches are currently valid. SPC’s watch page, updated 12:26 UTC Monday, lists none. The most recently issued watch is still Severe Thunderstorm Watch 676, a Wednesday, September 30 product for west-central Texas. No mesoscale discussion is driving a severe box this morning. SPC’s storm-report page for the new convective day, 1200 UTC Monday through 1159 UTC Tuesday, shows no tornado, hail, or wind reports received.
The pattern behind the quiet severe desk is progressive northwesterly flow over the northern tier of the country and Canada, with a prominent upper trough shifting east over Quebec. Surface high pressure and large-scale subsidence generally prevail east of the Mississippi River. Surface troughing is becoming established across the Great Plains, but with limited moisture. Along the Gulf Coast and Florida, thunderstorms are expected near and south of a southward-shifting frontal boundary. Isolated low-topped thunderstorms may occur today from northern New York into northern New England as a cold front shifts east. SPC notes a few convectively enhanced wind gusts might occur there as lapse rates steepen diurnally. That is a local gust note, not a risk area.
Watches that expired overnight versus what is still live
Nothing convective expired overnight because nothing convective was valid. The overnight Day 1 outlook at 0100 UTC, written by Squitieri at 8:37 p.m. CDT Sunday, already said severe thunderstorms were not expected across the continental United States through 1200 UTC. Lightning coverage along the sagging Southeast front was expected to decrease with nocturnal cooling, and a plume of marginal buoyancy from Colorado into New Mexico was expected to wane.
The products that did expire were flash flood warnings, not watches. National Weather Service Birmingham extended a Flash Flood Warning for northern Barbour County until 2:30 a.m. CDT. At 11:52 p.m. CDT Sunday, radar indicated 4 to 6 inches already down, with another 2 to 4 inches possible. The polygon included Clayton, Comer, Spring Hill, Hawkinsville, and U.S. 82 between mile markers 219 and 235. National Weather Service Tallahassee, issued by Jacksonville, put a Flash Flood Warning on central Coffee County and northwestern Dale County until 4:15 a.m. CDT. At 1:20 a.m. CDT, radar indicated 1 to 3 inches down and up to 2 inches more, covering Elba, Fort Rucker, Enterprise, Ozark, New Brockton, and Ariton. Both of those warnings are off the board this morning.
A Special Marine Warning from Tallahassee, also issued by Jacksonville, covered Apalachee Bay and coastal waters from the Suwannee River to Apalachicola until 3:30 a.m. EDT for a radar-indicated waterspout and gusts of 34 knots or greater. The cell was 12 nautical miles southeast of V Tower, moving east at 5 knots. That marine warning has expired. It was a coastal water ticket, not a land tornado report.
What is still live is flood-watch language, not a convective watch. National Weather Service Mobile, issued by New Orleans at 9:58 p.m. CDT Sunday, extended a Flood Watch through Monday morning, until 1700 UTC, for portions of southwest Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, including Baldwin and Mobile counties and the Destin to Fort Walton Beach coast. National Weather Service Tallahassee, issued by Jacksonville Sunday afternoon, holds a Flood Watch through Monday evening for southeast Alabama including Geneva and Houston counties, the Florida Panhandle, and parts of south Georgia. The Tallahassee text calls for another 2 to 4 inches, locally up to 6, especially along the Emerald and Forgotten coasts, and notes south-central Georgia is already primed from Friday rain. National Weather Service Jacksonville at 2:17 a.m. EDT extended a Flood Watch through this evening for portions of north Florida and southeast Georgia, including Baker, coastal Duval, coastal and inland Nassau, and eastern Hamilton counties, with listed towns running from Fernandina Beach and Hilliard toward Alma and Woodbine.
Hotspot 1 — Lower Texas coast
This is the only Slight Risk on the WPC Day 1 map. A stalled front remains draped across almost the entire Gulf Coast, and the piece near the lower Texas coast is stationary. Flow on both sides of the front is out of the northeast. Precipitable water along the front is above 2.25 inches, and sea-surface temperatures in the upper 80s are feeding slow-moving, training showers and thunderstorms that are moving southwest along the front into the coast. WPC says rainfall yesterday alone ranged from 3 to 6 inches, with another 2 to 4 inches expected today.
Wegman kept the Slight Risk specifically for coastal Willacy and Cameron counties, including Brownsville, and noted that outside urban pockets on South Padre Island and in Brownsville, much of the area is flat with sandy soils that are difficult to flood even with this volume. That is an urban and poor-drainage ticket, not a basin-wide river emergency.
Restoration read: stage extraction and drying for low-lying streets, underpasses, and first-floor commercial space in Brownsville and on South Padre, not a regional roof-and-wind deployment. Yesterday’s 3 to 6 inches is already a wet-drywall clock in the places that did not drain. Photograph standing water only if the road is clear. Turn around, don’t drown.
Hotspot 2 — Southeast Alabama into the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend
The same front extends across far southern Alabama, Georgia, and north Florida, but here it has been moving south, slowly. WPC left this corridor in a Marginal Risk. The heaviest rains are aimed at the Florida Panhandle near Apalachicola and the Big Bend. Forecast totals for the day run 3 to 6 inches in those regions. Forecasters kept the risk at Marginal because the area is relatively flat, sparsely populated in the core, and full of swamp that can take water. Urban flash-flood concern stays along I-10 from Pensacola through Tallahassee into Jacksonville, where storms are not expected to move very far.
Overnight just-hit reports are the Barbour, Coffee, and Dale warnings. Those polygons are off, but the Flood Watches are not. Mobile’s watch runs through Monday morning. Tallahassee’s runs through Monday evening. That is the handoff from a warning that already verified on radar to a watch that still covers the next round.
Restoration read: southeast Alabama is a just-hit water desk. Enterprise, Ozark, Elba, and Clayton are the towns named in the expired warnings. Treat interior water found this morning as last night’s rain, not a new severe claim. The Panhandle and Big Bend are today’s training-rain desk if cells sit on I-10 or the Forgotten Coast. Do not staff it as wind or hail.
Quiet severe pulse and leftover river water
Northern New York into northern New England is the only place SPC mentioned enhanced gusts, and only as isolated low-topped storms on the cold front. No risk area, no watch, no reports. The Plains stay moisture-starved under the surface trough. East of the Mississippi, high pressure is the dominant story away from the Gulf front.
River products already on the board are not the same as a flash-flood warning. National Weather Service St. Louis at 10:30 p.m. CDT Sunday kept minor flooding on the Mississippi River at Louisiana, Missouri, stage 15.2 feet against a 15.0-foot flood stage, in effect until Wednesday morning, and at Clarksville, stage 25.2 feet against 25.0, until Tuesday evening. National Weather Service Quad Cities replaced a river flood watch with a flood warning for minor flooding on the Wapsipinicon River near Anamosa Shaw Road from Monday morning into Tuesday morning. Those are channel tickets from earlier rain, not this morning’s convective pulse.
Tropics are not a U.S. land desk this morning. No named cyclone is threatening the mainland or is on the coast from an overnight landfall. The National Hurricane Center Atlantic discussion at 1215 UTC notes a front stalling over the northern Gulf and says broad low pressure may develop over the far southwest Gulf Tuesday night into Wednesday. Environmental conditions are only marginally conducive; a tropical depression could form in the second half of the week while the system drifts east, then turns north. That is a development note, not a landfall warning. The hurricane-warning language on the national watch page this morning is offshore Mexico in the eastern Pacific, not a Gulf Coast product.
Pulse table
Region
Main threats
SPC / WPC / NWS level
Status this morning
Lower Texas coast (Cameron, Willacy, Brownsville)
Training rain, urban flood
WPC Slight; no SPC severe area
Live; another 2–4 inches after 3–6 yesterday
SE Alabama (Barbour, Coffee, Dale)
Just-hit flash flood
Warnings expired 2:30–4:15 a.m. CDT
Aftermath; 1–6 inches indicated overnight
SW Alabama / western FL Panhandle
Additional heavy rain
Flood Watch through Monday morning
Live until about noon CDT
Emerald / Forgotten Coast, Big Bend
Training rain, isolated flash flood
WPC Marginal; Flood Watch through Monday evening
Live; 3–6 inches possible, locally 6
North Florida / SE Georgia
Excessive rainfall
JAX Flood Watch through this evening
Live
Northern NY / northern New England
Isolated gusty storms
No severe area
Low-topped; no watch
Mississippi at Louisiana MO / Clarksville; Wapsipinicon
Minor river flood
Flood warnings
In channel, not a new convective ticket
What this means for restoration teams
There is no wind or hail box to stage against. The morning work, if it is already inside a building, is southeast Alabama water from warnings that expired before dawn, plus any Brownsville or South Padre street that did not clear after yesterday’s 3 to 6 inches. The day work is extraction timing on the lower Texas coast and a flood-watch posture from Mobile through the Panhandle into north Florida and south Georgia.
A Slight Risk of excessive rainfall on sandy coastal plain is not the same job as a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms. Staff pumps, moisture meters, and drying equipment. Do not staff tarps for a watch that does not exist. River statements on the Mississippi and the Wapsipinicon are separate from the Gulf front; they are slow water already in the channel.
What this is not
This is not a severe outbreak and not a U.S. mainland hurricane landfall. SPC’s categorical map is empty. No convective watch is valid. No preliminary tornado, hail, or wind report is on today’s SPC log. The Gulf development note is a midweek possibility over the southwest Gulf, not an overnight hit. The local-storm pattern this desk should staff is training rain on a stalled coastal front and leftover flood-watch counties from last night’s Alabama warnings.
Looking ahead
SPC’s next Day 1 outlook is scheduled by 1630 UTC. WPC’s Day 1 window runs through 12 UTC Tuesday. The front stays the story: stationary on the lower Texas coast, still sagging south across the Southeast. If the southwest Gulf low organizes later in the week, that becomes a tropical desk only after NHC names it or puts a watch on the coast. Until then it is a moisture source for the same stalled boundary.
This is the Sunday morning Storm Tracker desk for October 4, 2026. Overnight into this morning the organized severe window stayed small, but it is no longer empty. The Storm Prediction Center 1300 UTC Day 1 convective outlook, updated 7:43 a.m. CDT by Guyer and Dean and valid 1300 UTC Sunday through 1200 UTC Monday, carries a Marginal Risk of severe thunderstorms across the coastal Florida Panhandle. The summary line is short: a few rotating thunderstorms are possible today across the coastal Florida Panhandle.
The larger restoration ticket is water, not a watch box. The Weather Prediction Center raised a Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall for the lower Texas coast, and National Weather Service flash flood warnings were already in effect before 9 a.m. CDT on the Emerald Coast. Conditions change fast. Verify with the National Weather Service for the specific county or ZIP before you roll.
What is live this morning
No convective watches are currently valid. SPC’s watch page, updated 12:04 UTC Sunday, lists none. The most recently issued watch is still Severe Thunderstorm Watch 676, a Wednesday, September 30 product for west-central Texas. Nothing from Saturday night carried into Sunday morning as a severe thunderstorm or tornado watch. The 0100 UTC Day 1 outlook Saturday night, written by Marsh, had no severe areas at all. The Marginal was added on the 0600 UTC cycle and kept on the 1300 UTC update.
SPC local storm reports for the 1200 UTC Saturday through 1159 UTC Sunday window, and for the new Sunday convective day that opened at 1200 UTC, show no tornado, hail, or wind reports received. The overnight severe hit list is empty. What verified overnight and into the morning is rain, not a wind or hail survey.
The Marginal area on the 1300 UTC graphic covers about 7,329 square miles and about 828,936 people. Larger population centers listed by SPC include Pensacola, Panama City, Ferry Pass, Wright, and Brent. The 0600 UTC probabilistic table placed a 2 percent tornado risk on that same coastal strip and listed no damaging-wind or large-hail areas. The 1300 UTC discussion does not add a wind or hail probability. The threat, if it verifies, is a brief, transient low-level circulation near the coast.
Hotspot 1 — Florida Panhandle and the central Gulf Coast
A stalled or slow-southeastward-moving surface front sits across the Southeast and Deep South. South of it, precipitable water is in excess of 2 inches, and the 0600 UTC discussion cited mean precipitable water near 2.5 inches on the Florida Panhandle with mean MUCAPE generally 500 J/kg or less. Scattered showers and thunderstorms were already common early today south of the front, including the northern Gulf. SPC notes some guidance, most notably recent NAM runs, for weak offshore surface low development and a related increase in low-level flow and storm-relative helicity. If that trend holds, storms near the coast can spin up briefly. The related hazard is a waterspout or a brief tornado, mainly near the coast.
That marine piece is already on the warning map. National Weather Service Tallahassee, issued by Jacksonville, put special marine warnings up before 8 a.m. CDT for coastal waters from the Okaloosa–Walton line toward Mexico Beach, and again toward Apalachee Bay, for waterspouts and wind gusts of 34 knots or greater. Mobile, issued by New Orleans, had a special marine warning for coastal waters from the Okaloosa–Walton line to Pensacola. Those are marine products. They are not a land tornado warning, and none was on the national summary at the morning scan.
Water is the product that is already warning, not watching. At 6:52 a.m. CDT, National Weather Service Mobile, issued by New Orleans, issued a flash flood warning for southeastern Okaloosa County until 9:45 a.m. CDT. Radar indicated 2 to 4 inches already down, with another 1 to 3 inches possible. Locations named in the warning include Wright, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, Destin, Eglin Air Force Base, Valparaiso, and Mary Esther. At 7:38 a.m. CDT, Tallahassee, issued by Jacksonville, issued a flash flood warning for west-central Bay County and southwestern Walton County until 10:45 a.m. CDT. Radar indicated 1 to 3 inches already down, with another 1 to 2 inches possible. Locations include Santa Rosa Beach, Freeport, Grayton Beach, Seaside, Sandestin, Inlet Beach, and Miramar Beach.
Flood watches frame that warning. Mobile’s flood watch remains through this evening for Mobile and Baldwin counties in southwest Alabama and for Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa counties in northwest Florida, including Pensacola, Gulf Shores, and Fort Walton Beach. Additional rainfall of 4 to 6 inches is expected, with locally higher amounts up to 10 inches. Tallahassee’s flood watch remains through Monday morning for Walton, Holmes, Washington, Bay, and Gulf counties, and a separate watch through Monday morning covers southeast Alabama (Geneva and Houston), the Florida Big Bend including Tallahassee, and south-central Georgia including Albany, Thomasville, and Valdosta. Additional totals of 2 to 6 inches are forecast, locally up to 10 inches along the Emerald Coast. New Orleans holds a flood watch through this evening for coastal Mississippi (Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties, including Gulfport and Biloxi) and for southeast Louisiana including New Orleans, with an additional 3 to 5 inches possible. Jacksonville has a flood watch from noon today through Monday morning for the Georgia coast, where prior rain has already cut flash-flood guidance.
WPC’s Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook, updated 0738 UTC Sunday and valid 12 UTC Sunday through 12 UTC Monday, kept an enhanced Slight Risk from Mobile Bay east to the Emerald and Forgotten coasts and deferred a Moderate upgrade there after coordination with offices Mobile and Tallahassee. Forecaster Weiss cited 2 to 3 inch-per-hour rates, precipitable water above 2.25 to 2.5 inches, and training where Corfidi vectors collapse. Some areas can see 3 to 5 inches today, locally as much as 8 inches. A separate Georgia-coast signal is centered near Savannah, with compromised flash-flood guidance of 1 to 2 inches in three hours.
Restoration read: staff the warning, not the Marginal polygon. Okaloosa, Walton, and Bay are the live water board this morning. Pensacola to Panama City is the brief-tornado strip if the offshore low tightens low-level shear. This is wet drywall, flooring, and a short mold clock where water enters. It is not a regional roof or hail crew. Do not treat a special marine warning as a land damage survey.
Hotspot 2 — Lower Texas coast
The highest excessive-rain category on the board is not the Panhandle. WPC raised a targeted Moderate Risk for the lower Texas coast between Brownsville and Corpus Christi after coordination with offices Brownsville and Corpus Christi. Convection developing over the Gulf is expected to track southwest into moist inflow and push onshore repeatedly. Rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour could produce local maxima in excess of 10 inches. Both the REFS and HREF indicate a greater than 50 percent chance of at least 8 inches. Recent rain has already been significant in spots: 2 to 4 inches in the last 12 hours, and up to 8 inches in the last three days. Sandy soils keep flash-flood guidance elevated, but WPC still flags locally significant impacts if the core crosses urban areas or more sensitive soils.
A Marginal Risk of excessive rainfall was joined along the immediate western Gulf Coast for possible onshore drift of heavy rain through the morning and afternoon. That is a lower bar than the Moderate strip from Brownsville to Corpus Christi. A coastal flood advisory is also in effect until 2 p.m. CDT for minor coastal flooding on the Aransas, Kleberg, and Nueces islands. That is tide and surge on the islands, not a convective watch.
Restoration read: Brownsville, Corpus Christi, and the communities between them are the new volume ticket. Saturday’s Slight Risk on this same coast is now a Moderate. Stage for street flooding and first-floor water only where a warning or a closed road verifies. Do not send the Panhandle crew and the Texas coast crew as if they are one storm.
What expired, and what is still just a river
Saturday’s Day 1 outlook had no severe areas, and Saturday’s storm-report page stayed empty. The Gulf Coast Slight Risk of excessive rain from Saturday is the parent of this morning’s watches, not a separate event. Iowa river flood warnings continued early Sunday on the Iowa River near Tama, Black Hawk Creek at Hudson, the South Skunk River at Colfax, and the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers at Des Moines. Those are river-stage tickets. They are not a convective watch and not a new storm-damage board.
Tropics — not a U.S. land desk
National Hurricane Center Advisory 29 at 2:00 a.m. MST Sunday places Hurricane Rachel near 20.2°N, 113.2°W, moving west-northwest at 5 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph and a minimum pressure of 968 mb. Rachel strengthened a little and remains well southwest of Baja California. The hurricane warnings on the morning national summary are offshore-waters products for the eastern Pacific within 250 nautical miles of Mexico, including waters near the Revillagigedo Islands and Cabo San Lucas. That is not a U.S. landfall.
Hurricane Nolo, at 11:00 p.m. HST Saturday, was near 23.6°N, 176.7°W, moving west at 18 mph with winds of 110 mph, and is expected to cross the International Date Line on Sunday. It is not a U.S. mainland threat. The Atlantic basin has no tropical cyclones this morning. The Gulf rain is tied to the stalled front and deep moisture, not to a named storm making landfall.
Pulse table
Region
Main threats
SPC / WPC / NWS level
Status this morning
Coastal Florida Panhandle
Brief tornado, waterspout
SPC Marginal; 2% tornado on 0600 UTC
Live today; no convective watch
Okaloosa, Walton, Bay counties
Flash flood
Flash flood warnings to mid-morning
Live; 1–4 inches already indicated
Mobile Bay to Emerald Coast
Training heavy rain
WPC Slight, upgrade deferred; flood watches
4–6 inches more, locally 8–10
SE Louisiana, coastal Mississippi
Heavy rain
Flood watch through this evening
Additional 3–5 inches possible
Lower Texas coast
Extreme rain rates
WPC Moderate
Local maxima above 10 inches possible
Georgia coast near Savannah
Repeated heavy rain
Flood watch noon through Monday morning
Soils already partly saturated
U.S. mainland tropics
None
Atlantic clear; Rachel SW of Baja
Offshore Mexico warnings only
What this means for restoration teams
There is still no wind-driven roof board on the Day 1 outlook. The Marginal is a coastal spin-up risk, not a hail or widespread damaging-wind risk. A 2-to-3 inch-per-hour rate is wet drywall and a 24-to-48-hour mold clock only where water actually enters. High flash-flood guidance on sandy Texas soils means part of the Moderate Risk will not produce a claim. Staff the warning polygon in Okaloosa, Walton, and Bay first. Treat Brownsville to Corpus Christi as the volume board if cells come onshore this afternoon. The empty SPC report page means there is no new hail or tornado survey from overnight.
Next check
The next Day 1 convective outlook is scheduled by 1630 UTC. Day 2, valid Monday, carries no severe thunderstorm areas. The afternoon desk should re-read the WPC Moderate Risk, any new flash flood warnings on the Panhandle, and whether the brief-tornado trend still holds before treating this morning polygon as still live. Flood watches on the Panhandle run through Monday morning. Mobile, New Orleans, and the lower Texas coast are today’s shorter fuse.
Disclaimer: This is a morning desk summary of public National Weather Service, Storm Prediction Center, Weather Prediction Center, and National Hurricane Center products. It is not a warning, not a forecast for a specific address, and not a substitute for local NWS products. Watches and warnings expire and get replaced. Confirm the county or ZIP on weather.gov before travel or work.
This is the Saturday morning Storm Tracker desk for October 3, 2026. Overnight into this morning the organized severe window stayed closed. The Storm Prediction Center 1300 UTC Day 1 convective outlook, updated 8:16 a.m. CDT by Guyer and Dean and valid 1300 UTC Saturday through 1200 UTC Sunday, carries no severe thunderstorm areas. The summary line is short: severe thunderstorms are not expected across the U.S. through tonight.
These are county- and ZIP-scale leftovers and a coastal water board, not a mainland hurricane landfall. The live restoration ticket this morning is rain already aimed at the central Gulf Coast and the lower Texas coast, not a new convective watch. Conditions change fast. Verify with the National Weather Service for the specific county or ZIP before you roll.
What is live this morning
No convective watches are currently valid. SPC’s watch page, updated 12:35 UTC Saturday, lists none. The most recently issued watch is Severe Thunderstorm Watch 676, a Wednesday, September 30 product for west-central Texas. Nothing from Friday night carried into Saturday morning as a severe thunderstorm or tornado watch.
SPC local storm reports for the 1200 UTC Friday through 1159 UTC Saturday window, and for the new Saturday convective day that opened at 1200 UTC, show no tornado, hail, or wind reports received. The overnight severe hit list is empty. Pre-dawn thunderstorms were ongoing across the Dakotas ahead of a cold front, but the Day 1 discussion keeps severe potential virtually nil even if a stronger gust occurs this afternoon.
What is organized is water. The Weather Prediction Center Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook, updated 0738 UTC Saturday and valid 12 UTC Saturday through 12 UTC Sunday, holds a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall for the central Gulf Coast and the lower Texas coast. Forecaster Wegman left the coastal Slight Risk in place and added a higher-end Slight Risk from New Orleans through much of the western Florida Panhandle, citing urban impacts and rainfall volume rather than a change in the underlying front.
Hotspot 1 — Central Gulf Coast
A tropical wave moving across the Gulf is funneling record to near-record atmospheric moisture into much of the Gulf Coast on Saturday. A 15 to 25 knot southerly flow at 850 mb supports numerous showers and thunderstorms moving into the central Gulf Coast today and tonight. Precipitable water is at or above 2.5 inches for many areas. Extensive cloud cover and the October sun should limit instability with any reasonable distance from the coast, so convection that hits the coast is not expected to travel far inland without significant weakening.
The coast can expect 3 to 6 inches of rain today, with locally higher amounts. Flash-flood guidance is high and soils have been dry, but WPC still flags widely scattered flash flooding where that volume lands on urban drainage, especially from New Orleans through the western Florida Panhandle. Mississippi and Alabama coastal counties sit in the same Slight Risk envelope.
Cities and counties to watch: New Orleans, the south shore and east bank parishes, coastal Mississippi from Hancock through Jackson County, Mobile and Baldwin counties in Alabama, and the western Florida Panhandle from Pensacola toward Panama City. Inland rows are a weaker pulse. The front that stretches from the Carolinas southwest toward the Texas coastal plain is the broader thunderstorm focus, but weak vertical shear and modest lapse rates should limit organized severe convection along and south of it.
Restoration read: water first, and only where a warning or a measured street flood actually verifies. Stage extractors, air movers, and moisture meters for urban low spots, underpasses, and slab-on-grade first floors. This is not a wind or hail board. Do not staff a regional roof crew on a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall. Photograph standing water only if the road is already closed and it is safe to be there.
Hotspot 2 — Lower Texas coast
The second Slight Risk remains along the coast of Deep South Texas. Onshore northeasterly flow of the same deep tropical moisture may reach urban areas such as Brownsville. Because this stretch of coast sits roughly perpendicular to the mean flow, WPC expects the onshore push to let convection move a few miles inland before it dissipates. No change was made to the area included in that Slight Risk on the 0738 UTC update.
Friday afternoon’s central Texas story is a different board. The prior desk held a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall on the I-35 corridor from Dallas–Fort Worth toward San Antonio, plus flood advisories in Comal, Guadalupe, and Hays counties and a flood watch that included coastal and inland Jackson County until early Friday evening. Those were time-limited products. They are not the Saturday morning Slight Risk. If a river or areal flood warning is still up in central or south-central Texas this morning, treat it as yesterday’s water still in the channel, not as a new convective watch.
Restoration read: Brownsville and the lower Texas coast are the new water ticket if cells train against the coast. Central Texas and southwest Kansas remain aftermath boards from Thursday and Friday. Do not send the same crew to both stories without checking which county actually has a warning now.
Northern Plains scatter, and what expired
Progressive westerlies cover the northern half of the country through tonight, with a fairly substantial shortwave trough amplifying over the northern Plains and Upper Midwest. As the cold front shifts east, a modest increase in moisture, steepening lapse rates, and increasing lift support isolated thunderstorms, including the pre-dawn activity across the Dakotas. SPC allows that some stronger, convectively enhanced wind gusts could occur this afternoon. Severe potential is expected to remain virtually nil. There is no Marginal, Slight, Enhanced, Moderate, or High Risk on the Day 1 categorical map.
Friday afternoon flash-flood warnings on the Georgia–Florida line, including Clinch and Echols counties in Georgia and Columbia County in Florida, were issued by National Weather Service Jacksonville with expiration times Friday evening. They are not a live Saturday morning warning. A separate river flood warning on the lower Fox River near New Munster, affecting Lake County, Illinois, and Kenosha County, Wisconsin, was continued Friday afternoon until Monday morning for minor flooding. That is a river-stage ticket, not a convective watch.
Tropics — not a U.S. land desk
National Hurricane Center Advisory 25 at 2:00 a.m. MST Saturday places Hurricane Rachel near 19.4°N, 111.8°W, about 270 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, moving west at 5 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph and a minimum pressure of 969 mb. Rachel has weakened slightly and continues westward. There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect. A turn toward the west-northwest is expected today, with additional slow weakening. Swells will affect the coast of west-central Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula through the weekend and can produce life-threatening surf and rip currents. That is a marine hazard, not a U.S. landfall.
Hurricane Nolo is a Central Pacific system, near 23.3°N, 170.4°W at 2:00 a.m. HST, moving west at 13 mph with winds of 110 mph. It is not a U.S. mainland threat. The Atlantic basin has no tropical cyclones this morning. The Gulf Coast rain is tied to a tropical wave and deep moisture, not to a named storm making landfall.
Pulse table
Region
Main threats
SPC / WPC / NWS level
Status this morning
Central Gulf Coast (SE LA, coastal MS/AL, western FL Panhandle)
Heavy rain, urban flash flood
WPC Slight, higher-end on the coast
Live today and tonight; 3–6 inches, locally higher
Lower Texas coast (Brownsville)
Onshore heavy rain
WPC Slight
Live; cells may push a few miles inland
Northern Plains / Dakotas
Isolated storms, gusts
No severe area
Pre-dawn storms; severe potential virtually nil
Southeast / Deep South front
General thunderstorms
No severe area
Weak shear, modest lapse rates
Central Texas / southwest Kansas
Yesterday’s water
Aftermath, not a new watch
Verify any leftover flood warning before rolling
Fox River near New Munster
Minor river flood
Flood warning to Monday morning
River stage, not convective
U.S. mainland tropics
None
Rachel west of Baja; no coastal warnings
Swells and rip currents in Mexico only
What this means for restoration teams
There is no wind-driven roof board on the Day 1 outlook. A 3-to-6-inch coastal rain is wet drywall, flooring, and a 24-to-48-hour mold clock only where water actually enters. High flash-flood guidance and dry soils mean many miles of the Slight Risk will not produce a claim. Staff the warning, not the polygon. Urban New Orleans through the western Florida Panhandle is the higher-end piece of the same Slight Risk because of drainage, not because a watch is up.
Southwest Kansas and central Texas are still yesterday’s water if a flood statement is still valid. Friday’s flash-flood emergency language in Ford County and the I-35 flood advisories do not automatically roll into Saturday. Check the office product before a crew leaves the yard. The empty SPC report page means there is no new hail or tornado survey from overnight.
Next check
The next Day 1 convective outlook is scheduled by 1630 UTC. Day 3, valid Monday, also carries no severe thunderstorm areas, with the more robust low-level moisture staying on the Gulf Coast and winds aloft remaining weak. The afternoon desk should re-read the WPC Slight Risk and any new flood warnings on the central Gulf Coast before treating the morning polygon as still live.
Disclaimer: This is a morning desk summary of public National Weather Service, Storm Prediction Center, Weather Prediction Center, and National Hurricane Center products. It is not a warning, not a forecast for a specific address, and not a substitute for local NWS products. Watches and warnings expire and get replaced. Confirm the county or ZIP on weather.gov before travel or work.
This is a live Wednesday morning snapshot of local storm-type events across the United States as of the morning of Wednesday, September 23, 2026. Overnight into this morning, the flood desk ran ahead of the severe desk: National Weather Service flash-flood warnings for El Paso County, Texas; Amelia, Cumberland, and Powhatan counties in central Virginia; and a receding western North Carolina pulse around Lake Lure / Bat Cave / Chimney Rock. Those overnight warnings are treated as expired or expiring into this morning. Today’s desks: Storm Prediction Center Marginal Risk for parts of the western Dakotas and the southern Appalachians; Weather Prediction Center Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall across portions of central and eastern New Mexico. No convective watches are currently valid.
These are county- and ZIP-scale thunderstorms and flood pulses, not a U.S. mainland hurricane landfall. There is no named tropical cyclone threatening U.S. land in the current National Hurricane Center picture. Restoration exposure today into tonight is water first in New Mexico and far west Texas, leftover street and creek flooding in central Virginia and the southern Appalachians, and isolated damaging gusts this afternoon if the two Marginal corridors heat. Conditions change fast. Verify with the National Weather Service for the specific county or ZIP before you roll.
What is live this morning
SPC’s 1300 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook (issued 7:26 a.m. CDT Wednesday, September 23, 2026; Smith/Mead; valid 231300Z–241200Z) places a Marginal Risk over parts of the western Dakotas and the southern Appalachians. Summary: isolated severe thunderstorms are possible this afternoon across those two corridors. Western Dakotas: mid-level trough moving out of Wyoming/Montana, lee trough, moisture plume off the High Plains, around 1,000 J/kg MLCAPE, isolated marginally severe hail or gusts through early evening. Southern Appalachians: mid-level vorticity maximum sliding southeast from the lower Ohio Valley; dewpoints in the 60s °F; 250–750 J/kg MLCAPE if heating wins against low cloud; strong to locally damaging gusts with the stronger cells. Hail probabilities were removed after the 12 UTC Nashville sounding showed poor 700–500 mb lapse rates (4.8 °C/km).
No convective watches were currently valid as of the SPC watches page update at 09:44:06 UTC Wednesday, September 23, 2026. Most recent watch on the board: 0674. Check spc.noaa.gov/products/watch before you stage.
WPC’s Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook (updated 0832 UTC Wednesday, September 23, 2026; Chenard; valid 12Z Wed–12Z Thu) holds a Moderate Risk across portions of central and eastern New Mexico. Scattered to numerous flash floods are expected; locally significant and life-threatening impacts remain possible on sensitive terrain, urban drainage, and burn scars. A widespread 1–2 inches is generally expected, with localized 2–4 inch swaths likely on top of rain that already fell before 12Z. The Slight risk extends into southeast Arizona and a slice of far west Texas if storms propagate east. Separate flood desks: Slight over portions of eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, and far western North Carolina; Marginal from Ohio into West Virginia and western Virginia/North Carolina; Marginal over south Florida.
Hotspot 1 — Central and eastern New Mexico / far west Texas
Today’s Moderate flood desk and the national headline. A well-defined mid-level shortwave lifts north-northeast across New Mexico with robust upper divergence and the chance of a weak surface low. Cloud cover is the limiter; daytime heating on the eastern edge of the rain shield plus easterly upslope should still support training cells in deep southerly flow. HREF/REFS neighborhood probabilities of more than 3 inches run 40–70% across the eastern half of the Moderate area. Overnight El Paso County already took radar-indicated 0.5–1.5 inch bursts and flash-flood warnings that expired before dawn.
Restoration read: water first. Stage pumps and air movers before the afternoon/evening cores organize. Burn-scar runoff and arroyos fail first. Start extraction the same night if water is inside. Turn around, don’t drown — most flood deaths are in vehicles.
Dual desk: SPC Marginal for isolated damaging gusts, WPC Slight for flash flood on wet ground from eastern Kentucky through eastern Tennessee into far western North Carolina. Extensive low cloud this morning is the uncertainty. If breaks allow 250–750 J/kg MLCAPE, multicells along the inverted trough can put down strong gusts around peak heating. HREF/REFS neighborhood flash-flood-guidance exceedance peaks over eastern Tennessee (above 40% in spots). Overnight, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg held a flash-flood warning into 5:45 a.m. EDT for southeastern Buncombe, northeastern Henderson, southwestern McDowell, northwestern Polk, and northwestern Rutherford counties — 2.5–4 inches already down, waters receding by 3:05 a.m. EDT, Rocky Broad near Bat Cave falling through 6.58 feet.
Restoration read: leftover water plus a second-chance afternoon pulse. Do not treat receding creeks as closed. Stage extractors in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina; tree and tarp crews only if the gusty cells actually fire.
Hotspot 3 — Western Dakotas
New SPC Marginal added on the 1300 UTC outlook. Mid-level trough crossing Wyoming/Montana reaches the western Dakotas late afternoon and deamplifies toward the Red River Valley by Thursday morning. Lee trough holds a moisture plume north from the central High Plains. Widely scattered storms near the Black Hills and lee trough this afternoon; isolated marginally severe hail or gusts through early evening. No major population centers sit inside the 5% hail contour.
Restoration read: isolated wind and hail, not a regional outbreak. Stage only if you already work the Black Hills / western Dakota corridor. Do not pull crews off the New Mexico water desk for this.
Just hit
Overnight flood, not overnight severe. NWS El Paso/Santa Teresa issued flash-flood warnings for northwestern and central El Paso County into the small hours (radar 0.5–1.5 inches, additional 0.5–1 inch possible; warnings through 3:15 a.m. MDT). Otero Mesa / northwest of Dell City had 2.5–3 inches radar-estimated earlier in the night with rural-road flooding held off Dell City by retention dams. NWS Wakefield: up to 4 inches since 11 p.m. in northwestern Amelia County and up to 5.5 inches since 10 p.m. in western Powhatan County; warnings through 4:00–5:30 a.m. EDT. Western North Carolina pulse receding after 2.5–4 inches.
SPC local storm reports for the 22/1200Z–23/1159Z window carried no tornado and no hail. Wind reports from late Tuesday afternoon remain on the board for Lauderdale County, Alabama (Lexington / Rogersville): power lines down, a brush fire, and a power pole/lines on a vehicle — already noted on yesterday’s afternoon Tygart Media desk. Do not invent additional LSR points.
Pulse table
Region
Main threats
SPC / WPC / NWS level
Status this morning
Central / eastern NM and far west TX
Flash flood, training storms, burn-scar runoff
WPC Moderate
Live flood desk today–Thu 12Z
Southeast AZ
Localized flash flood
WPC Slight
Today
Eastern KY / eastern TN / far western NC
Flash flood + isolated damaging gusts
WPC Slight + SPC Marginal
Afternoon–evening
Western Dakotas / Black Hills
Isolated hail / gusts
SPC Marginal
Late afternoon–early evening
OH into WV / western VA–NC
Localized flash flood on wet soils
WPC Marginal
Today
South Florida
Urban flash flood
WPC Marginal
Local
El Paso / central VA / WNC overnight
Flash flood (expired/expiring FFWs)
Overnight NWS warnings
Aftermath / receding
U.S. mainland tropics
No landfalling named cyclone
NHC quiet for CONUS land
Quiet
What this means for restoration teams
New Mexico and far west Texas remain water jobs if the Moderate risk verifies — extraction, drying, and a 24–48 hour mold clock. Central Virginia and western North Carolina are aftermath from last night plus a second-chance flood axis this afternoon in eastern Tennessee. The Dakotas Marginal is isolated. Do not treat receding overnight warnings as a closed book; soils are primed. Stage before the New Mexico afternoon cores. Start extraction the same night if water is inside. Turn around, don’t drown.
What this is not
This is not a regional derecho and not a U.S. mainland hurricane landfall. There are no tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin at this hour. Hurricane Polo (Category 4, off southwest Mexico) and Hurricane Odalys (eastern Pacific, well west of Baja) are not CONUS land threats today. Tropical Depression Fifteen-E is a Central Pacific system near Hawaii, not a mainland U.S. landfall. Today’s work, if it verifies, is scattered: New Mexico flash flood, leftover Mid-Atlantic and Appalachian water, isolated Dakotas hail/wind, isolated southern Appalachian gusts.
Looking ahead
SPC Day 2 (Thursday) and Day 3 currently show no severe thunderstorm areas. That does not cancel today’s New Mexico flood problem or this afternoon’s two Marginal corridors. Day 4–8 language is only a possible localized Plains/Mid-Mississippi threat next Monday–Wednesday with weak shear — too unclear for probabilities. Watch the next Storm Tracker update rather than assuming the Moderate rainfall risk is the last line of the week.
Sources and how to verify
Primary sources: SPC Day 1 Convective Outlook issued 7:26 a.m. CDT Wednesday, September 23, 2026 (Smith/Mead); SPC watches page updated 09:44:06 UTC Wednesday, September 23, 2026; WPC Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook updated 0832 UTC Wednesday, September 23, 2026 (Chenard); NWS El Paso/Santa Teresa, Wakefield, and Greenville-Spartanburg flash-flood products overnight; SPC local storm reports (Lauderdale County, Alabama wind from Tuesday afternoon); NHC Atlantic discussion 1215 UTC Wednesday, September 23, 2026.
This is a live Tuesday morning snapshot of local storm-type events across the United States as of the morning of Tuesday, September 22, 2026. Overnight, the Appalachians–Southeast corridor carried the pulse — NWS Charleston, West Virginia flash-flood warnings for southern and north-central West Virginia into southwest Virginia. Those overnight warnings are treated as expired/expiring into this morning (no active WV flash-flood warnings on the NWS alert feed at hang time). Today’s desks: Storm Prediction Center Marginal Risk for much of Utah into adjacent Wyoming and Colorado, plus a portion of the Southeast; Weather Prediction Center Moderate Risk of excessive rainfall across portions of southern New Mexico. No convective watches are currently valid.
These are county- and ZIP-scale thunderstorms and flood pulses, not a U.S. mainland hurricane landfall. There is no U.S. landfalling tropical cyclone in the current National Hurricane Center picture. Restoration exposure today into tonight is water first in southern New Mexico and far west Texas, wind and marginally severe hail this afternoon across the Utah corridor, leftover Appalachian water from Monday night, and locally severe gusts plus flood axes across parts of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Conditions change fast. Verify with the National Weather Service for the specific county or ZIP before you roll.
What is live this morning
SPC’s 1300 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook (issued 7:22 a.m. CDT Tuesday, September 22, 2026; Smith/Mead; valid 221300Z–231200Z) places a Marginal Risk over much of Utah into adjacent Wyoming and Colorado, and across a portion of the Southeast. Summary: isolated severe wind gusts today in Utah into southwest Wyoming and western Colorado; thunderstorms capable of strong to locally severe damaging gusts also possible across parts of the Southeast. Outlook footprint ~196,000 square miles / ~24 million people. Larger Southeast centers in the risk area include Charlotte, Atlanta, Greensboro, Birmingham, and Montgomery.
No convective watches were currently valid as of the SPC watches page update at 11:44:05 UTC Tuesday, September 22, 2026. Most recent watch on the board: 0674. Check spc.noaa.gov/products/watch before you stage.
WPC’s Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook (updated 0809 UTC Tuesday, September 22, 2026; Chenard; valid 12Z Tue–12Z Wed) holds a Moderate Risk across portions of southern New Mexico, with flood watches from noon MDT today through Wednesday afternoon/evening for large parts of New Mexico and far west Texas (NWS Albuquerque and El Paso/Santa Teresa). WPC Slight axes: southeast Virginia into South Carolina, and West Virginia into southwest Virginia. South Florida: WPC Marginal for localized urban flash flood.
Hotspot 1 — Southern New Mexico / far west Texas
Today’s Moderate flood desk. Multi-day heavy rain starts today under an upper trough, jet right-entrance dynamics, deep southerly tropical moisture, and precipitable water toward mid/late September record levels. Daytime favors scattered storms; overnight trends toward a more concentrated rain shield with heavier cores over southern New Mexico. Ensemble neighborhood guidance: 40–70% chance of more than 3 inches across New Mexico today; 2–4 inch max footprint through early Wednesday. Scattered to numerous flash floods expected, some locally significant, including Sacramento Mountains burn scars.
Restoration read: water first. Stage pumps and air movers before the overnight shield organizes. Burn-scar runoff and low water crossings fail first. Start extraction the same night if water is inside.
Hotspot 2 — Utah into southwest Wyoming and western Colorado
SPC Marginal wind-and-hail corridor. Mid-level trough over the western Great Basin moves northeast across Utah through early evening. After early showers, heating steepens 0–2 km lapse rates; elongated hodographs support a few stronger cells with marginally severe hail. Isolated 60–75 mph gusts are the primary hazard. Activity can later spill into western Colorado and southwest Wyoming late afternoon into early evening.
Restoration read: wind and isolated hail. Stage tarps, generators, and tree crews before late afternoon. Soft-metal roofs and skylights after stronger cells only if it is safe.
SPC Marginal for the Southeast focuses on a slow-moving cold front from the Deep South into the southern Appalachians. Dewpoints upper 60s–lower 70s °F; afternoon MLCAPE about 1,500–2,500 J/kg. Weak shear; water-loaded downdrafts can produce locally severe gusts into early evening.
WPC Slight flood axes: southeast Virginia into South Carolina (coastal convergence + backdoor front; neighborhood high for 3 inches, localized 5 inches possible) and West Virginia into southwest Virginia (wetter soils, lower flash-flood guidance, inverted trough). Farther north Mid-Atlantic: more stratiform 1–2 inches. South Florida WPC Marginal is a local urban-flood desk, not the national headline.
Restoration read: gusty wind and street flooding can share the same ZIP. Charlotte, Atlanta, Greensboro, Birmingham, and Montgomery sit inside the broader Southeast convective risk — local pulse desks, not a regional derecho.
Just hit
Monday afternoon into overnight, the Appalachians–Southeast carried the live severe and flash-flood pulse (already on yesterday’s afternoon Tygart Media desk). Overnight NWS Charleston, West Virginia flash-flood warnings covered southern West Virginia / southwest Virginia (Welch, Pineville, Davy, McDowell, Wyoming, Buchanan; 1–3 inches radar-indicated) and north-central West Virginia along Buckhannon–Burnsville–Century / I-79 (1–3 inches). Those overnight warnings are treated as expired or expiring into this morning. No clean parsed SPC LSR list in this pass — do not invent points.
Pulse table
Region
Main threats
SPC / WPC / NWS level
Status this morning
Southern NM / far west TX
Flash flood, multi-day heavy rain, burn-scar runoff
WPC Moderate + flood watches
Live flood desk today–Wed
Utah into SW WY / western CO
Severe wind gusts, marginally severe hail
SPC Marginal
Afternoon–early evening
Southeast / southern Appalachians
Locally severe damaging gusts
SPC Marginal
Afternoon–early evening
SE VA into SC; WV into SW VA
Flash flood / heavy rain
WPC Slight
Today into tonight
South Florida
Urban flash flood, lightning
WPC Marginal
Local
Appalachians–Southeast overnight
Flash flood (yesterday’s pulse)
Overnight FFWs (expired/expiring)
Aftermath / drying
U.S. mainland tropics
No landfalling tropical cyclone
NHC quiet for mainland
Quiet
What this means for restoration teams
Southern New Mexico and far west Texas are water jobs if the Moderate risk verifies — extraction, drying, and a 24–48 hour mold clock. Utah’s Marginal corridor is wind and isolated hail. Southeast Marginal wind is local gusty warnings, not a derecho. Leftover Appalachian water from Monday night is aftermath. Stage before the overnight New Mexico rain shield; start extraction the same night if water is inside. Turn around, don’t drown.
What this is not
This is not a regional derecho and not a U.S. mainland hurricane landfall. Tropical Depression Fay is mid-Atlantic open ocean and becoming post-tropical — not a U.S. land threat. Hurricane Polo and Tropical Storm Odalys remain eastern Pacific systems and are not mainland landfall threats today. Today’s work, if it verifies, is scattered: southern New Mexico flash flood, Utah–Colorado wind/hail, Southeast gusts, leftover Appalachian water.
Looking ahead
SPC Day 2 and Day 3 currently show no severe thunderstorm areas. That does not cancel tonight’s New Mexico flood problem or this afternoon’s Marginal corridors. Watch the next Storm Tracker update rather than assuming the Moderate rainfall risk is the last line of the week.
Sources and how to verify
Primary sources: SPC Day 1 Convective Outlook issued 7:22 a.m. CDT Tuesday, September 22, 2026 (Smith/Mead); SPC watches page updated 11:44:05 UTC Tuesday, September 22, 2026; WPC Day 1 Excessive Rainfall Outlook updated 0809 UTC Tuesday, September 22, 2026 (Chenard); NWS Albuquerque and El Paso/Santa Teresa flood watches; overnight NWS Charleston, West Virginia flash-flood warnings; NHC advisories (Fay, Polo, Odalys).
