Severe storms, tornado threat to stretch across a dozen states through Easter
Day after day of severe weather will focus on portions of the central United States through the Easter weekend. The strongest storms will pack high winds, large hail and tornadoes.
High winds, large hail and tornadoes are possible for millions in the central U.S. on Easter weekend. AccuWeather’s Bernie Rayno breaks down what to expect.
Severe thunderstorms will be on the prowl each day through Easter Sunday and will mainly focus from Texas to the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region. Some areas may be blasted by severe weather for several days in a row, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
The repeating storms will be triggered by a building area of high pressure near Florida and a clash between warm air to the southeast and cold air to the northwest. The high pressure area will cause this zone to stall over the Central states but farther to the northwest than earlier in the month.
People enjoying their holiday weekend are urged to have a means to get timely weather bulletins, especially when driving or sleeping.
Saturday
On Saturday, clusters of severe thunderstorms are expected to stretch from west-central Texas to parts of the Ohio Valley. A few storms can develop across portions of Pennsylvania into New York into the late afternoon and evening hours, some of which can produce small hail and gusty winds.
The most potent storms will pack large hail and high winds as well as a few tornadoes.
Easter Sunday
As a storm system forms along the front and begins to press eastward on Easter Sunday, the severe weather will become more progressive. More storms are likely to be severe than in previous days.
It is possible that a large zone of severe thunderstorms may form, with powerful winds being the greatest threat. Before the storms organize into a curved line, isolated severe thunderstorms may pack damaging hail and tornadoes from northeastern Texas to eastern Kansas and Missouri.
Because of the repeating nature of the downpours from north-central Texas to central Illinois, there will be an increasing risk of flash flooding that could evolve into river flooding for the tributaries of the Mississippi River but mainly well northwest of the zone where the deluge in the Tennessee and Ohio valleys occurred earlier in the month.
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