Severe thunderstorms are forecast to bring straight-line winds and heavy rain to the Selma area on Sunday evening.

The storms are expected to enter Selma after 7 p.m. Sunday evening, but the gradient wind in front of the system might pose as big a threat as the actual storms themselves.

“That could bring down some trees, some weakened trees, and maybe some larger limbs as well Sunday afternoon through Sunday evening, so that’s something to pay attention to as well,” said meteorologist Gary Goggins with the National Weather Service in Birmingham.

Once the storms do arrive, Goggins said the main threat of is limited to those west along Interstate 65, which is an area that includes Selma.

“The severe weather chances have dwindled a bit, however,” Goggins said. “There is a non-zero threat for severe weather, damaging straight line winds being the primary threat.”

The storms are expected to drop about an inch of rain on the Selma area.

“It will be around midnight when that line gets here and it will push off quickly Monday morning, and we should be dry by Monday afternoon,” Goggins said.

Rainfall totals aren’t projected to be high enough to cause any kind of flooding concerns.

“It’ll be a good downpour for us overnight into early Monday morning, but we aren’t expecting anything too overly heavy,” Goggins said.