'Extreme risk' of destructive winds as severe weather targets Plains, Southeast
An exceptionally high risk for damaging winds in parts of Oklahoma and Texas into Sunday night highlights the start of a new week of severe thunderstorm threats extending from New Mexico to Pennsylvania.
Severe storms have brought heavy rainfall, strong winds and flash flooding to the southern region of the U.S. These videos show significant flooding taking place in the state of Arkansas.
Another active week of severe weather in the central and eastern U.S. will begin with a risk of 100-mph thunderstorm winds in the southern Plains on Sunday.
The extreme risk for severe weather, which has only been issued by AccuWeather six times since the spring of 2023, highlights the exceptional risk posed to life and property in the region to end the weekend. Additional rounds of destructive storms are expected to occur in the same area and elsewhere during the forthcoming week.
An approaching storm with a shelf cloud and rain shaft is visible during a Project ICECHIP operation on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Scotland, Texas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
An extreme risk for severe weather into Sunday night
Following many active days of severe weather since last week, Mother Nature was not ready to relent on Sunday, with over 110 million people from the Lone Star state to near the nation's capital at risk for damaging storms.
Of paramount concern into Sunday night was an area encompassing the Red River Valley separating Texas and Oklahoma, including the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, where AccuWeather has issued a very rare 'extreme' risk of severe storms, for only the second time this year.
"A weather regime favorable for high-end severe thunderstorms is expected to develop beginning late in the day on Sunday across the southern Plains," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham.
Initially into the evening, storms may pose a risk of primarily large hail and even an isolated tornado, but the situation is expected to rapidly escalate.
"Progressing into Sunday night, individual [storms] can congeal into a powerful line or complex of thunderstorms," said Buckingham. "This will begin to shift the primary risk towards damaging, if not devastating wind gusts."
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Widespread damaging wind gusts ranging between 80 to 90 mph are expected in the high and extreme risk areas, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 105 mph. This is more than enough to cause significant damage.
"These destructive winds will likely result in widespread power outages across the region," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Alexander Duffus. "Power outages in the most-impacted areas can last multiple days, and winds of this magnitude will even pose a greater threat to mobile homes and incomplete construction."
Cities included in the high and extreme risk areas include Lawton and Norman and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Denton, Plano and Wichita Falls, Texas. Portions of Interstates 30, 35 and 40 are also included. It is possible that a derecho can form, which is defined as a widespread, long-lived damaging wind storm that travels at least 240 miles.
"The highest risk is expected to be realized during the nighttime hours in these locations, so it is imperative to have the means to receive weather warnings and to act quickly if those warnings are issued," added Buckingham.
Other parts of the country are also at risk of severe weather into early Sunday night, including portions of the Midwest, including Chicagoland, and the East from southern Georgia north to the mid-Atlantic. The primary concerns here will be from heavy rain, hail and locally damaging wind gusts.
The severe threat will continue into another week
The risk of damaging thunderstorms will not end with the weekend, as many of the same areas, and elsewhere, will experience severe weather through at least Tuesday.
A moderate risk for severe weather will be across the Southeast on Monday, extending from near Nashville to Atlanta and points south and west. The storm leading to this severe weather threat is the same one bringing the high-end severe weather to the Plains on Sunday.
Thunderstorms capable of bringing torrential rain, hail and damaging wind gusts will be in this region, which includes Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport. Any storms that roll through near there can lead to disruptions across the nationwide air travel grid.
Farther west, it will end up being another stormy day in the southern Plains, intersecting with many areas that will have experienced severe weather into Sunday night. Comparatively, the risk will be lower, but still, cities such as Amarillo and Austin, Texas, as well as Shreveport, Louisiana, will experience a threat for damaging storms.
By Tuesday, the overall risk for severe storms will be lower. While heavy rain appears to be the primary concern from the South to the Northeast, a few storms can still be capable of generating gusty winds from around the Interstate 95 corridor to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
Another area of severe weather will be found across western Texas and New Mexico, with hail and damaging winds the primary concerns.
With summer vacation plans getting underway, having a way to receive warnings both at and away from home or work will be important over the next few days. The AccuWeather App offers push notifications of severe weather alerts so you can take quick action in the event of storms.
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