Tornadoes possible as cold front invades Manatee County; wet Wednesday likely

MANATEE -- A strong cold front and upper level system is moving through the Gulf of Mexico and it promises to bring strong storms Wednesday, according to Mike Clay, Bay News 9 chief meteorologist

A gale watch and small craft advisory has been posted.

"Our weather will be becoming active over the next 24 hours," Clay said.

Winds will stay up, especially along the coast through the night. The best chance of rain will be Wednesday morning as a strong cold front comes through the Gulf into Manatee County.

After the line moves through, winds will switch to the west and cooler air will arrive.

It will be reinforced by chilly again as winds turn more northwest by Friday.

"We will have about three mornings with lows in the 40s for the Tampa Bay area," Clay said. "But our northern counties could have three mornings with lows in the 30s. It should be dry with mostly clear skies."

Front spawns tornadoes along Gulf Coast

To the west of Florida, tornadoes and severe weather ripped through the Gulf Coast on Tuesday, mangling trailers at an RV park, ripping off roofs from buildings and killing at least three people in Louisiana and Mississippi, authorities said.

One of the most hard-hit areas appeared to be a recreational vehicle park in the town of Convent, in southern Louisiana. Two people were killed there, said St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin, speaking on local television. Authorities were still looking for people possibly trapped under the debris, Martin said.

Thirty-one people were taken to area hospitals, and seven of them were in critical condition, he said.

"We never had anything like this; we never had this many people injured in one event, and so much destruction in one event," Martin told WVUE news. "We won't stop searching until we're satisfied we've searched every pile."

In Florida, the National Weather Service said a tornado hit Pensacola. Meteorologist Steve Miller said the service has had many reports of property damage and people injured in storms Tuesday night

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Tornadoes possible as cold front invades Manatee County; wet Wednesday likely ."