Severe storms to rumble across southern US into Tuesday
Thunderstorms packing locally strong winds, hail and even a couple of tornadoes will accompany flooding rain and pose some risk in the southern United States through Tuesday.
A hailstorm storm interrupted a baseball game between the Lubbock Christian baseball team and the UT Permian Basin in Lubbock, Texas, on May 11. You can see the players run for cover from the hail.
While the most widespread threat to lives and property will be from flooding in the southern United States this week, there will be batches of severe weather that will shift eastward, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
Heavy rain and severe thunderstorms erupted across the South Central states on Sunday, bringing reports of large hail and damaging winds in eastern Texas and Louisiana. Additionally, a few landspouts were reported from central Nebraska to western Oklahoma.
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Severe thunderstorms then erupted from southern Texas to the Florida Panhandle through Monday night, producing heavy rain as well as numerous reports of hail and damaging wind gusts.
One fatality in Cecilia, Louisiana, was confirmed by the St. Martin Sheriff’s Office Monday evening. Another fatality occurred in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Monday evening, while two others were injured.
On Tuesday, the threat of severe thunderstorms will congregate from the Southeast region to much of the Ohio Valley. Severe thunderstorms will be most widespread across northern Florida Tuesday morning.
A major severe weather outbreak is unnecessary for a single tornado to strike a neighborhood, threaten lives and lead to tremendous property damage. For this reason, small-scale severe weather situations can be every bit as dangerous as massive severe weather outbreaks.
South Florida to continue to bake, avoid most storms
Meanwhile, severe thunderstorms and most shower and thunderstorm activity, in general, will continue to avoid much of South Florida and portions of central Florida where drought has been building and temperatures have been reaching for the roof.
Temperatures have climbed into the mid- to upper 90s in southeastern Florida, where both Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach have set daily record highs on Friday and Saturday. More records will likely be set at least midweek, including in the Miami area.
Regardless of whether or not more record highs are set, the maximum temperature will be 8-15 degrees above the historical average through at least midweek.
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