The onslaught of tornadoes, severe winds, and hail will shift into the Deep South and Tennessee Valley today as a new disturbance begins to develop.
With Friday's storm system lifting up into Ontario, a second low pressure system strengthen over the Mississippi Valley today, pulling Gulf moisture northward across the Deep South and into the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. This system will quickly organize as it advances eastward through tonight.
The national Storm Prediction Center has labeled this threat to be a High Risk for damaging thunderstorms and tornadoes across east-central Mississippi and central Alabama. This area, largely overlapping the Interstate 20 corridor from Jackson, Miss., to Birmingham, Ala., is most likely to see waves of violent tornadoes, including some capable of tracking on the ground for 100 miles or more. This is the top-level category that the SPC can place, and this is only the third time that they have used this category on the day preceding the storms.
A Moderate Risk for severe storms and tornadoes exists from the Mississippi Delta to the Florida Panhandle and western Georgia. In addition to the potential for tornadoes, very large hail to the size of baseballs, and wind gusts in excess of 80 mph are also likely in the High and Moderate Risk areas. This includes metro New Orleans, Mobile and Huntsville, Ala., and the western suburbs of Atlanta.
Already this morning, Tornado Watches stretch from Indiana and western Ohio into much of the Tennessee Valley and Lower Mississippi Valley. There is also a Severe Thunderstorm Watch in eastern Texas.
The risks continue to ebb outward across the Mid-South and into the central Ohio Valley, where 60 to 70 mph wind gusts, golf ball sized hail and a few tornadoes could be found as far north as Ohio, as far east as Charlotte, N.C., and as far south as Tallahassee, Fla.
Residents of the South are urged to have a plan in place so that they can reach safety when these storms develop. Have a weather radio with you at all times, and listen for warnings that may come.
