[11/23/04]Heavy rain and high winds described as “very dangerous” were expected for the area this afternoon and tonight, emergency management director L.W. “Bump” Callaway said.

More than an inch of rain was forecast to fall on already saturated ground with winds up to 20 mph and tornado-producing conditions likely.

“They’re talking about this coming in this afternoon today and through the evening hours,” Callaway said, adding that he had been in on a conference call with National Weather Service officials Monday.

“They continue to call this potentially very dangerous.”

Callaway said there was the potential for tornado watches and warnings throughout the evening.

“Of course the ground is saturated already so that means we’re probably going to have some trees down,” he said.

The official forecast for Vicksburg tonight called for strong thunderstorms with a low of 62 and winds from the south at 10 to 20 mph. The chance of rainfall was listed as 70 percent.

Today’s forecasted high was 74, with mainly cloudy weather and thunderstorms likely this afternoon.

The chance of rainfall was listed as 80 percent.

In the 24 hours that ended Monday morning, 1.8 inches of rain had fallen, and additional rain has fallen since then.

Vicksburg typically gets about 45.3 inches of rain a year.

So far this year 68.6 inches of rain has been recorded.

So far this month, 5.15 inches had been recorded by Monday. Normal rainfall for November is 2.72 inches.

NWS officials were expecting the weather to be caused by “a very unstable air mass, combined with these incoming fronts.”