Gusty, drenching thunderstorms to trigger travel delays along the East coast Friday
More heavy to locally severe thunderstorms will erupt in the southeastern United States into Friday evening. Storms may rumble across the site of the Master Golf Tournament late in the day.
We’ve seen nearly double the average number of tornadoes so far this year, and quite a few of them have been destructive.
Disruptive thunderstorms will erupt to close out the week in the south-central and southeastern United States, threatening to upend afternoon and evening rush hour commutes on Thursday and Friday evenings, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
A lack of high humidity and very warm air will cap the intensity of the storms over the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys into Thursday night, meaning a repeat of last week's deadly tornado outbreak is not expected. On Friday, the storms could rumble along the southern Atlantic coast, AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.
"There is not a significant shifting of winds at different layers of the atmosphere, which is what we would look for in terms of tornadoes," Rayno said. "But this does look like a setup that supports thunderstorms with strong wind gusts, brief torrential downpours and perhaps damaging hail."
Dozens of storms with wind, hail on Thursday
Individual, widely separated thunderstorms erupted and then organized into multiple clusters before developing into a line of gusty thunderstorms Thursday night.
Multiple instances of damaging wind and hail, as well as even a tornado near Evanston, Indiana occurred from the Ohio River Valley to the Atlanta metro. As of Friday morning, there were more than 160 reports of severe weather comprised mostly of hail and high winds. Many of the hailstones were marble to golf ball-sized. There was at least two reports of egg-sized hail near Emerson, Georgia, and Albertville, Alabama.
The setup did not bring a prolonged, drenching rain event, so no significant rises are anticipated on the secondary rivers. Due to the heavy rain from last week, rising water levels will continue on the lower portions of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
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Friday severe weather threat
As the thunderstorms move along, they can get another boost as they near the southern Atlantic coast on Friday before being swept out to sea.
A secondary area of thunderstorms is expected to develop near the southern Tennessee border Friday afternoon and storms that could produce damaging wind and hail will move into northern Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia; areas that already experienced thunderstorms Thursday night.
The storms will ramp up along a cold front on Friday afternoon from southeastern Virginia to the northern part of the Florida Peninsula.
Like Thursday, the main dangers from thunderstorms will likely be strong wind gusts, brief torrential downpours, and damaging hail.
Non-flooding rainfall is generally needed in this zone due to varying areas of drought.
Farther inland over the southern Appalachians, spotty afternoon and evening thunderstorms can erupt but will likely not reach severe levels.
Timing the storms at Augusta National
The Masters Tournament will be underway through Sunday at Augusta National Golf Course in Georgia.
The storms from Thursday weakened as expected prior to moving through Augusta, Georgia, during the middle of the night.
Nicolai Hojgaard, Denmark, walks on the second hole during the first round at the Masters golf tournament, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Friday is shaping up to be a mainly rain-free day after a wet start. However, there will be a slight chance of a brief pop-up thunderstorm in the afternoon after sunshine returns. Golfers and spectators should monitor building shower activity in the afternoon and evening for lightning activity. Any storm that erupts can bring brief gusty winds, a quick downpour and even small hail.
Both days of the weekend are forecast to be sunny, with highs within a few degrees of 70.
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