April typically marks the start of the three most active months for tornadoes in the United States, and this year will be no exception as a widespread, multi-day outbreak of severe weather is expected to affect tens of millions of Americans across the eastern half of the country between Monday and Tuesday.
A storm system that drenched Southern California with torrential rain over Easter weekend contributed to the development of a new area of low pressure in the Central Plains on Monday, which is expected to quickly strengthen and move toward is during the first half of the work week. .
As this low pressure system draws moisture from the Gulf of Mexico northward, the atmosphere will quickly become unstable and lead to widespread thunderstorms beginning Monday afternoon in the Southern Plains and spreading toward the middle of the Mississippi Valleys and Ohio in the evening and night. hours.
“Dew points are really important. That’s another key ingredient to seeing that activation, and the dew points in those areas are between 60 and maybe 70,” noted FOX Weather Meteorologist Marissa Torres of the humidity in the air mass above the region. “And then you will have this daytime heating. So things will start to show up in the afternoon, and that’s where we can potentially track some of these supercells.
Monday’s severe weather threat covers 53 million people, from Texas to the Ohio Valley.
A widespread severe weather outbreak, with storms threatening large to very large hail, damaging wind gusts and tornadoes, is expected to develop Monday afternoon through Monday evening over a wide area from the Southern Plains and of the Ozarks until parts of the middle of the season. The Mississippi and Ohio valleys, perhaps even extending into a small part of the mid-Atlantic.
Monday’s threat zone encompasses more than 53 million people and includes major cities such as Dallas, Texas, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, St. Louis, Missouri, Indianapolis, Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Potentially giant hail is possible in a corridor stretching from northern Texas to southern Illinois, including major metropolitan areas such as the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and St. Louis.
“We’re talking about the size of a baseball,” FOX meteorologist Kendall Smith said. “I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want a baseball crashing while I’m driving on the highway, or even just at home in general. So you need to take these precautions today and make sure you are prepared.
The greatest tornado threat is expected Monday evening from central and eastern Oklahoma to southern Indiana. A few tornadoes could be EF-2 or stronger in parts of northeast Oklahoma, northwest Arkansas, southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas.
Most of the Ohio Valley will only experience its peak risk for severe weather in the evening and overnight hours. Nighttime tornadoes are twice as likely to cause fatalities as those that occur during the day, so make sure you have a way to receive potentially life-saving weather alerts that will wake you up during the night.
Tuesday’s severe weather threat covers 58 million people, from the Ohio Valley through the Mid-Atlantic to the South.
A continuation of Monday night’s severe storms is expected farther east Tuesday, with the threat extending from the Ohio and Tennessee valleys eastward into the Mid-Atlantic and southward to the Central Gulf Coast States.
Wind damage and isolated large hail are possible across this large area of more than 58 million people, including the cities of Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Charleston, West Virginia, Nashville, Ohio. Tennessee, Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC.
The tornado threat is expected to be greatest across middle Tennessee, including the Nashville area, north-northeast into central and northern Kentucky.
A few lingering severe thunderstorms are possible Wednesday across parts of the Mid-Atlantic, the Carolinas and the Florida Peninsula as the storm system continues to track toward the East Coast. This includes cities along Interstate 95, such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond, Virginia, as well as Raleigh, North Carolina.
Be sure to check FOX Weather for updates on this expected widespread severe weather outbreak. You can download the free FOX Weather app and enable notifications to receive real-time alerts of any severe weather that is brewing.
New York Post
