Hail, gusty winds strike as thunderstorms roll through the southern Appalachians
By
Courtney Travis, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Apr 25, 2020 2:06 PM EDT
Thunder rumbled and lightning flickered as storms pushed through Tampa, Florida, in the morning hours of April 24.
Following hail, damaging winds and even tornadoes that kicked off the weekend, more rounds of heavy thunderstorms will target the Sunshine State to end the weekend.
On Friday, severe thunderstorms tore through portions of the southern Plains and the lower Mississippi Valley, and damaging winds and hail hammered the regions into early Saturday morning.
In addition to a combined total of more than 120 damaging wind and hail reports, there were at least three preliminary tornado reports by the Storm Prediction Center on Friday evening. A tornado spun up in Bennington, Oklahoma, and in Ivanhoe, Texas. A "weak and brief" landspout was also spotted over an open field just east of Malta Bend, Missouri.
In Florida, 67,084 customers were reported to be out of power as of Sunday. Palm Beach county had the most outages with 56,245 customers being out of power.
The relentless rounds of severe weather then shifted eastward, igniting across the southern Appalachians and the Carolina Piedmont Saturday night.
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As the evening progressed, numerous supercell thunderstorms targeted the Charlotte, North Carolina metropolitan area, prompting numerous tornado warnings.
Supercell thunderstorms tracked right over downtown Charlotte, North Carolina Saturday evening. (AccuWeather)
Luckily, no tornadoes touched down in the Charlotte area, but storms were able to produce hail, damaging wind gusts and localized flash flooding.
Through Sunday, conditions will be much quieter across the Carolinas, however, feisty thunderstorm activity will not completely clear out of the Southeast.
Along a slow-moving frontal boundary, drenching thunderstorms are expected to target South Florida on Sunday.
"Training thunderstorms are expected to hit some areas several times through the weekend, which can lead to flooding issues for those communities," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Rob Miller.
Some localized reports of gustier winds may also accompany the downpours and frequent lightning.
Parts of the Florida Panhandle were targeted by damaging winds, waterspouts and a few tornadoes earlier in the week. Despite this, conditions have been rather dry across Florida this year, so whatever rain falls, it will be beneficial.
According to this weeks update from the US Drought Monitor, over 97 percent of the state of Florida was abnormally dry or in a drought. Around 65 percent of the state was reportedly in a moderate or severe drought.
Drought conditions at this time of the year make for a higher fire risk, and could increase the number of wildfires ahead of the wetter summer months.
While the storms will not totally eliminate the drought across central and South Florida, it may help lessen the effects.
Storms will gradually pull out of the area Sunday night and Monday, allowing soaked parts of Florida to dry out. Mainly dry conditions are likely to hold through the middle of the week.
Although it will likely be dry in Florida early week, another round of severe weather is expected in the center of the country.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo
News / Severe Weather
Hail, gusty winds strike as thunderstorms roll through the southern Appalachians
By Courtney Travis, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Apr 25, 2020 2:06 PM EDT
Thunder rumbled and lightning flickered as storms pushed through Tampa, Florida, in the morning hours of April 24.
Following hail, damaging winds and even tornadoes that kicked off the weekend, more rounds of heavy thunderstorms will target the Sunshine State to end the weekend.
On Friday, severe thunderstorms tore through portions of the southern Plains and the lower Mississippi Valley, and damaging winds and hail hammered the regions into early Saturday morning.
In addition to a combined total of more than 120 damaging wind and hail reports, there were at least three preliminary tornado reports by the Storm Prediction Center on Friday evening. A tornado spun up in Bennington, Oklahoma, and in Ivanhoe, Texas. A "weak and brief" landspout was also spotted over an open field just east of Malta Bend, Missouri.
In Florida, 67,084 customers were reported to be out of power as of Sunday. Palm Beach county had the most outages with 56,245 customers being out of power.
The relentless rounds of severe weather then shifted eastward, igniting across the southern Appalachians and the Carolina Piedmont Saturday night.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
As the evening progressed, numerous supercell thunderstorms targeted the Charlotte, North Carolina metropolitan area, prompting numerous tornado warnings.
Supercell thunderstorms tracked right over downtown Charlotte, North Carolina Saturday evening. (AccuWeather)
Luckily, no tornadoes touched down in the Charlotte area, but storms were able to produce hail, damaging wind gusts and localized flash flooding.
Through Sunday, conditions will be much quieter across the Carolinas, however, feisty thunderstorm activity will not completely clear out of the Southeast.
Along a slow-moving frontal boundary, drenching thunderstorms are expected to target South Florida on Sunday.
"Training thunderstorms are expected to hit some areas several times through the weekend, which can lead to flooding issues for those communities," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Rob Miller.
Some localized reports of gustier winds may also accompany the downpours and frequent lightning.
Parts of the Florida Panhandle were targeted by damaging winds, waterspouts and a few tornadoes earlier in the week. Despite this, conditions have been rather dry across Florida this year, so whatever rain falls, it will be beneficial.
According to this weeks update from the US Drought Monitor, over 97 percent of the state of Florida was abnormally dry or in a drought. Around 65 percent of the state was reportedly in a moderate or severe drought.
Related:
Drought conditions at this time of the year make for a higher fire risk, and could increase the number of wildfires ahead of the wetter summer months.
While the storms will not totally eliminate the drought across central and South Florida, it may help lessen the effects.
Storms will gradually pull out of the area Sunday night and Monday, allowing soaked parts of Florida to dry out. Mainly dry conditions are likely to hold through the middle of the week.
Although it will likely be dry in Florida early week, another round of severe weather is expected in the center of the country.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo