Atlanta, Nashville among cities facing severe weather risk Thursday
A low pressure system combined with a cold front will result in severe weather across the Southeast.
The same storm that was responsible for the atmospheric river earlier this week in California began to reorganize in the Plains Wednesday night. AccuWeather meteorologists are warning that this system combined with a cold front could result in volatile and dangerous weather in the Southeast Thursday.
Although a few reports of wind and hail were recorded Wednesday night, the aforementioned ingredients are expected to lead to a more widespread and significant severe risk into Thursday evening.
Thunderstorms gave people an early wake-up call in southern Illinois and western Kentucky Thursday morning. Elsewhere, thunderstorms continued to erupt from areas farther to the east in the Ohio Valley to the central Gulf coast. It is these storms that are forecast to strengthen, march eastward and trigger severe weather.
As of the mid-afternoon hours, most of the thunderstorms had congealed into one or two main lines that were pushing eastward. Within the lines, some of the thunderstorms were rotating enough to raise the risk of tornadoes.
Reports of damage emerged as severe storms tracked through northwestern Alabama Thursday morning. According to local law enforcement, a number of people were reportedly trapped in a building near the rural town of Delmar, in Winston County, Alabama. It is possible that the damage in Winston County was produced by one or more tornadoes.
Multiple dangerous storms capable of producing tornadoes were pushing eastward across Alabama during the midday hours.
In McDaniels, Kentucky, located about 56 miles southwest of Louisville, storms reportedly caused significant damage to the roof of an elementary school. There were no reports of any injuries.
Mild air combined with a burst of high winds tens of thousands of feet above the ground at jet stream level will combine to trigger severe weather, explained AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
Nashville, Tennessee; Huntsville and Mobile, Alabama; and Panama City and Apalachicola, Florida, are just a few locations that may be affected by strong to severe thunderstorms.
However, there will be an embedded zone in which there is a heightened risk of severe weather. The metropolitan areas of Montgomery, Alabama, and Atlanta fall within this area.
"Strong winds will be the main concern, but a few tornadoes on the leading edge of the line cannot be ruled out," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Michael Youman.
While all locations in the severe risk area can have flooding downpours, hail, damaging wind gusts and isolated tornadoes, it is the corridor from Montgomery to Atlanta where there will be a higher risk of damaging winds.
Interstates 10, 20, 40, 55 and 75 could all be impacted. Even where severe weather does not occur, heavy rainfall can cause reduced visibility and vehicles to hydroplane.
The line of thunderstorms will continue eastward into Thursday evening. At that time, Knoxville, Tennessee; Charlotte and Asheville, North Carolina; and Augusta, Georgia, may be impacted. These storms will affect a stretch of Interstate 85, likely after the evening commute.
Storms will begin to lose intensity later Thursday evening, but downpours and gusty winds may reach as far as Raleigh and Fayetteville, North Carolina, before the thunderstorms fall apart altogether.
By the time the line of storms moves offshore, only a few showers are likely to remain. The tail end of the cold front is likely to move through the Florida Peninsula Friday. Severe weather is not anticipated, AccuWeather forecasters say.
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