As the storm-weary Plains and Midwest prepare for another outbreak of severe weather, including tornadoes, beginning Monday afternoon. AccuWeather’s expert meteorologists have placed a rare ‘extreme’ risk to life and property along the Interstate-35 corridor from Oklahoma City to Wichita, Kansas, across the heart of Tornado Alley. This corridor is expected to face the greatest threat of long-track tornadoes, flooding downpours, large hail, powerful wind gusts, and damaging winds of 70-80 mph, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 95 mph.
AccuWeather’s site-specific and actionable warnings, tailored to your needs, enable customers to prepare better and make the best decisions likely sooner and faster to protect their people and property. Now is the time to ensure you benefit from AccuWeather’s unique “umbrella of protection” against severe weather threats.
“It’s a dangerous day,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter. “Not every area under an ‘extreme risk’ will see storms today, but the storms that do develop will have the potential for strong tornadoes. Today is the most widespread, significant risk for strong tornadoes in the Southern Plains in the last 5 years.”
Porter says there are also growing concerns about the threat of nocturnal tornadoes.
“This extreme risk for severe storms lasts well into the night as it evolves into a line of thunderstorms with embedded tornadoes. The line of storms will blast east across Kansas and Oklahoma toward Kansas City and Springfield, Missouri tonight,” said Porter. “Nocturnal tornadoes are extremely dangerous. Tornadoes can be nearly impossible to see in the dark, especially if they’re wrapped in rain. Navigating through tornado damage in the dark is also extremely dangerous for storm survivors and first responders.
The severe weather threat is expected to shift east Tuesday, with thunderstorms forecast to develop from the Midwest to the Ohio Valley. There is a moderate risk for severe weather, with these storms having the potential to produce isolated tornadoes, damaging winds, and hail. There is an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 80 mph.
The severe weather threat is expected to ramp up again from Wednesday afternoon to Wednesday night. AccuWeather’s expert meteorologists are now highlighting a rare 'high' risk to lives and property from far northeastern Arkansas to far southern Indiana. Thunderstorms are expected to develop Wednesday afternoon into the evening. These storms will again have the potential to produce tornadoes and damaging winds. Once again, there is the risk for any tornado that does develop to become intense and long-lasting. There is an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 85 mph.
A continuation of severe weather can extend right into Thursday and Friday, spanning an area from northeastern Texas and the Gulf Coast states to the East Coast. On Thursday, damaging wind gusts, hail, tornadoes, and flash flooding will all be possible from eastern Texas to the mid-Atlantic region. As storms shift across the Southeast states on Friday and Friday evening.
AccuWeather's SkyGuard® Severe Weather Warning Service protects people and facilities in emergencies. It communicates instantly with a high level of accuracy through multiple channels and dissemination methods, all customized to the client's needs. SkyGuard warnings provide the most accurate, proactive notification of impending threats to specific locations when severe weather threatens human lives, facilities, or business operations – 24/7, 365 days a year. AccuWeather's team of expert meteorologists develop SkyGuard warnings specifically for the severe weather threats and locations that matter to each client, including tornadoes, hail, flooding, ice, black ice, high winds, lightning, and much more. SkyGuard warnings are backed by expert consultants on-call to help businesses and institutions make early, actionable decisions.
The benefits of AccuWeather go beyond protecting the lives of employees and customers. Businesses will also reduce operational costs through better planning and mitigation efforts, allowing you to make better weather-impacted decisions. AccuWeather forecasts will help you make the right decisions sooner and faster, keeping your people safer, saving you money overall, eliminating angst and stress, reducing your risk and liability, reducing losses, and better protecting your reputation.