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Severe storms menace nearly 40 million from Texas through the Southeast
The FOX Forecast Center is tracking an active springlike pattern that will produce an extended threat of severe weather from Texas through the Southeast starting on Wednesday and lasting through the end of the workweek.
Computer forecast models show a series of storm systems will tap into the available moisture and produce the threat of hail, damaging winds and tornadoes.
The severe weather threat comes after a deadly outbreak that impacted the Plains, Mississippi and Ohio valleys, but the FOX Forecast Center believes the upcoming multiday threat will be centered over areas farther south and potentially have wider impacts.
“We definitely are starting the month off with a lot of lioness behavior,” FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin said. “The weather is going to be impactful. We’re really focusing on northeast Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas – some areas that have been hit hard over the last month.”
Similarly to the late-February event, the incoming storm system will produce severe weather on the warm, southern side and provide a blast of heavy snow across the Midwest and Northeast.
Tracking the unsettled weather
A few severe thunderstorms developed in parts of North Texas on Wednesday morning but have since fizzled out.
Computer forecast models suggest additional showers and storms will fire up Wednesday afternoon and evening.
Wednesday weather forecast: First day of storms in the South
The FOX Forecast Center expects the bulk of activity to occur north of Interstate 20 on Wednesday.
Storms with large hail, damaging wind gusts and a couple of tornadoes will be common in a zone that stretches from northeastern Texas through the mid-South and into Middle Tennessee.
Already Wednesday morning, storms dumped around the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Communities under the highest threat on Wednesday include Memphis in Tennessee, Little Rock in Arkansas, areas just east of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and areas just south of Nashville in Tennessee.
Thursday weather forecast: Highest risk day
A large outbreak of severe weather, including tornadoes, widespread damaging windgusts and large hail, all appear likely from Thursday afternoon into the overnight hours.
Additional moisture and atmospheric ingredients not present on Wednesday are expected to be in place on Thursday.
More than 45 million residents from Texas to northwestern Georgia are under the threat of thunderstorms that could turn severe.
Communities with the increased threat of severe storms include Dallas-Fort Worth, Little Rock in Arkansas; Shreveport in Louisiana, Jackson in Mississippi and Memphis in Tennessee.
Several National Weather Service offices warned the severe weather outbreak could involve strong, long-track tornadoes of EF-2 or higher intensity.
Friday weather forecast: Severe threat pushes eastward
The FOX Forecast Center expects the threat of severe storms to continue into the early-morning hours on Friday and possibly reenergize as the cold front advances eastward with the addition of daytime heating.
Damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes are expected to be the primary concerns with Friday’s storms.
Cities under the threat of severe weather on Friday include Nashville in Tennessee, Birmingham in Alabama, Atlanta, Charleston in South Carolina and Charlotte in North Carolina.
Storms also pose risk of flash flooding
The threat of flash flooding will also increase through Friday, with some areas in the South seeing several rounds of rain.
Computer forecast models show parts of Arkansas, Tennessee and southern Kentucky could pick up 3 to 5 inches of additional rainfall through Friday.
Where thunderstorms stall or repeatedly track over the same areas, rivers and streams could quickly rise, especially in communities near waterways that are already considered to be at full bank.
