Severe weather to threaten south-central US with tornadoes, damaging hail into Sunday night
Severe weather will quickly ramp back up across the south-central United States to end the weekend with tornadoes and damaging hail among the dangers to lives and property.
On the heels of the severe weather that spanned Thursday to Saturday, communities in the vicinity of Oklahoma and northern Texas will face more dangerous thunderstorms into Sunday night as a storm emerges from the Rockies.
“What is concerning about this storm is that it is following so close to the recent storm,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Maggie Samuhel said. “People may have let their guard down since the first storm has passed.”
Thunderstorms with hail erupted earlier on Saturday afternoon in central Oklahoma. However, a more volatile situation will follow by early evening.
The National Weather Service Norman confirmed a brief tornado at 7:18 p.m. CST about 3 miles east of Ada, Oklahoma. No injuries were reported.
A surge of May-like warmth will help set the stage for the severe weather to erupt in far south-central Kansas, central Oklahoma, north-central Texas.
“The severe thunderstorms will produce blinding downpours, straight-line wind damage and hail,” Samuhel said, “and there can be tornadoes.”
Hail at the start of this severe weather event can reach or exceed baseball-sized, threatening to damage vehicles, break windows and harm people or livestock caught outdoors.
Residents enjoying late-weekend plans in the vicinity of I-35 should monitor cell phones and weather radios and be prepared to quickly seek shelter when the severe weather threatens.
This includes in Oklahoma City and Dallas-Fort Worth. The risk around the Dallas area will be greatest in the northern and western suburbs.
The severe weather will push into eastern Oklahoma, northeastern Texas and western Arkansas at night. Southeastern Kansas may also get brushed by potent thunderstorms.
“I’m especially worried for areas from east of Oklahoma City, including Tulsa and McAlester, to Fayetteville, Arkansas, as those severe thunderstorms and tornadoes will arrive at night,” Samuhel said, “so people might sleep through important warnings.”
The dangers from the violent thunderstorms should transition to mostly damaging wind and downpours as the thunderstorms press into and across western Arkansas overnight.
North of the severe weather, soaking rain will elevate the risk of localized flash flooding from Wichita, Kansas, to Springfield and Columbia, Missouri, on Sunday night.
The risk for violent thunderstorms will not come to an end with the weekend.
“The area from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Memphis, Tennessee, is under the gun for isolated severe thunderstorms on Monday, mainly in the afternoon,” Samuhel said.
Other cities at risk include Paducah, Kentucky, and Tupelo, Mississippi.
While there can be a few heavy and gusty thunderstorms to start the day, the majority of the strongest thunderstorms will occur in the afternoon.
If morning clouds and thunderstorms linger long enough, it would work to safeguard some communities in the above area from facing the violent thunderstorms with blinding downpours, hail and damaging winds. An isolated tornado cannot be ruled out.
The severe thunderstorms will wane on Monday evening as attention turns back to the southern Plains for yet another round of severe weather to erupt on Tuesday into Wednesday.
This event will threaten more of Texas than what is expected on Sunday. Lubbock, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston, are among the communities that will be facing the potential for damaging thunderstorms, tornadoes and flash flooding.
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