County emergency management officials are preparing for another round of potentially severe weather forecast to hit Warren County Saturday.

“We’re expecting thunderstorms and the threat of tornadoes,” said John Elfer, Warren County Emergency Management director.

He said the National Weather Service forecast predicts Warren County will be at a slight risk for severe weather, “But we’re not taking this lightly because of what happened last weekend,” referring to the March 3 tornado that killed 23 people in east Alabama.

Brad Bryant, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Jackson, said the severe thunderstorms are expected during the day Saturday into early Saturday evening.

“There’s a big upper level disturbance that is focused north of our region, but there will be a lot of ingredients for severe weather that extends south into the lower Mississippi Valley,” he said, adding a weak front will also be moving into the area “to help focus activity later in the day.

“We’re expecting some bands of thunderstorms that potentially will train (follow each other) over the same areas where you could get localized readings of 1-2 inches, maybe more. But it’s going to be hard to figure out where those bands of thunderstorms (will) set up.”

The heavy rainfall will be patchy, Bryant said, with the potential for some areas to not get a whole lot of rain, and other areas to be underneath some of the training thunderstorms and get a few inches.

The risk for severe weather such as tornadoes, high wind gusts and the risk of hail is probably not expected until later in the morning or midday.

“It will start late Saturday morning or midday and shift southeast of your area later on in the evening,” Bryant said.