Storms to pack a punch with damaging winds, flooding downpours into next week
The severe weather siege will continue across the South Central states right through the extended holiday weekend, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
Neighbors and volunteers are helping survivors who lost their homes to a powerful EF3 tornado that sliced through St. Louis on May 16.
The South Central states are enduring a prolonged stretch of daily severe weather, and AccuWeather meteorologists warn that the stormy pattern shows no signs of letting up.
Tree-snapping winds, destructive hail and flash flooding will be among the daily risks to life and property during a busy time of year for outdoor plans.
“This setup is particularly concerning given all of the outdoor activities, travel and gatherings happening around Memorial Day,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said. “Anyone in the risk zones over the coming days should pay close attention to evolving weather conditions.”
Most days through Memorial Day, the severe weather risk zone will stretch from the Front Range of Colorado through the southern Plains eastward across the lower Mississippi Valley and into part of the Southeast. Pieces of energy associated with a slow-moving storm in the upper part of the atmosphere will spark the daily rounds of heavy, damaging thunderstorms.
"Cities that can face a daily risk for severe thunderstorms through Memorial Day include Oklahoma City, Dallas, Little Rock and Memphis," Buckingham said.
Through Saturday night, a broad zone where severe thunderstorms can occur in parts of the area will extend from near Denver southeastward to the Big Bend of Texas and eastward into the central Plains and lower Mississippi Valley.
Sunday's severe weather threat area will nearly mirror the zone AccuWeather experts have highlighted through the first half of the weekend.
A greater concentration of severe storms, capable of producing damaging wind gusts, large hail and isolated tornadoes, is expected to target northern Texas and Oklahoma.
Heavy thunderstorms with locally damaging wind gusts can extend as far to the east as the Southeast coast through Sunday. The thunderstorms will ride along a boundary separating an abnormally cool air mass to the north with warm, humid air to the south.
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On Memorial Day, the threat of severe thunderstorms will shift slightly southward, moving out of Colorado and Kansas but persisting from Texas and Oklahoma eastward to Georgia.
Holiday cookouts, remembrance services and other outdoor plans could be significantly impacted by the weather from Dallas to Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; and Atlanta.
In addition to the thunderstorms unleashing heavy rainfall, strong wind gusts that can knock out power and snap trees will remain possible. An isolated tornado or two cannot be ruled out.
As the thunderstorms hit repeatedly, the risk of significant flash flooding will mount, especially across the Ozark Mountains, as the holiday weekend progresses.
"Those outdoors should use extreme caution as storms brew due to the risk of lightning strikes," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said. "Campers should avoid setting up along small streams that could be prone to flash flooding. A downpour less than a mile upstream could produce a wall of water that quickly inundates low-lying areas."
AccuWeather's long-range team expects thunderstorms to continue daily across the southern tier of the nation through the middle of next week, posing a continued risk of flash flooding, as well as localized damage. It may take until the start of June for a drier pattern to take hold of the region.
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