Emergency officials, event planners keeping a close eye on weekend weather forecasts

Published 5:42 pm Thursday, April 11, 2019

: file • The Vicksburg Post ON SUNNIER DAYS: In this file photo, residents looking to enjoy a nice spring day and shoppers looking for a great item converge on the Old Courthouse Museum Flea Market. Event organizers are hoping a weather system, expected to bring high winds and heavy rain late Saturday will not arrive in the area until well after this year’s event is over. The flea market is scheduled to open Saturday at 8 a.m. around the Old Courthouse Museum in downtown Vicksburg.

Area officials and event organizers are keeping an eye on the weather in the wake of predictions of severe weather Saturday.

The storms are part of a warm front expected to pass through the area Saturday.

“We are looking at severe storms likely on Saturday, probably late Saturday afternoon, and going into the evening and potentially the overnight hours,” said Joanne Culin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Jackson.

“We are likely to have severe storms with tornadoes, larger hail — potentially to golf ball size — and damaging winds at least 60 mph.”

“All modes of bad weather,” Warren County Emergency Management director John Elfer said, adding the severe weather forecast calls for 2-4 inches of rain for the area.

“The whole county is at risk.”

The threat of severe storms has already forced the cancellation of two events: the Vicksburg National Military Park has rescheduled its park cleanup day initially set for Saturday to April 20.

Alcorn State University has cancelled its spring football game in Lorman.

Bubba Bolm, director and curator of the Old Court House Museum, said the spring flea market will be held as scheduled.

“I believe we may be able to get half a day before the weather sets in,” he said.

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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