“A possible outbreak of severe storms, including strong tornadoes, heavy hail and damaging wind, will exist on Thursday afternoon at night in a part of the lower Mississippi valley and southeastern states,” said the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) .
The latest forecast shows an “increased risk” for severe storms in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama. This level of 3 out of 5 category risks means “countless severe storms are possible”, according to the SPC, with great hail, winds and damaging tornadoes, all possible.
“The ingredients will be combined on Thursday for another severe weather outbreak in the South,” said CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. “The very humid air in the Gulf of Mexico combined with a strong upward movement will create several rounds of severe weather, including rotating storms that can produce tornadoes.”
The tornado chance appears on Wednesday night
Another active climate pattern that is being established across the country is the introduction of storm systems that will instigate more storms.
On Tuesday, a system located on the central plains will track towards the midwest. This could cause some severe isolated storms in northern Missouri, as well as southern Louisiana and Mississippi, a region that saw tornado warnings issued Tuesday morning; those have expired.
As the system leaves for the north and east on Wednesday, attention turns to the west for the next weather system.
On Wednesday night, the SPC is forecasting the chance of bad weather from central Texas to Mississippi, with greater risk in southeastern Arkansas, northeastern Louisiana and western Mississippi. This region faces a level 2 of 5 in the “mild risk” category for severe weather.
During the day on Wednesday, some punctual storms may be possible in the southern plains, with more widespread rain near the Texas Panhandle.
Wednesday night will become more active as a line of storms forms, bringing the risk mainly of strong winds and hail, but also the chance of tornadoes closer to the Gulf coast.
With these storms there will also come an attack of heavy rains that can lead to flooding in parts of the south.
Severe storm threat will be greater Thursday
Wednesday’s storms will move eastward, focusing on Thursday in Deep South, as the high-risk area of the storm is likely to expand and become more significant. Heavy storms will be possible from the Gulf Coast to the far north of Ohio.
The specific timing of these storms is still too early to know, but the computer model’s orientation suggests several possible rounds of thunderstorms during Thursday day and that night.
On Friday, most of the South is expected to dry out, except for parts of Georgia and the Carolinas, where light rains and isolated storms may persist.