Yet another round of severe weather, flooding rain to ignite in central US Palm Sunday
A timelapse captured a roll cloud forming over the skies of Snook, Texas, on April 7. The area was hammered by severe storms on April 6 and 7, with large hail and strong winds causing widespread damage.
On the heels of a powerful storm at midweek, a new storm will threaten part of the central and southern United States with severe weather and flooding on Palm Sunday, 2019.
While the storm does not appear to be nearly as intense as the storm targeting the Central states into Thursday, it is likely to be strong enough to be of concern.
"The combination of a storm in the lower part of the atmosphere and a vigorous disturbance at the jet stream level would suggest the likelihood of severe weather this weekend," according to AccuWeather Long-Range Meteorologist Max Vido.
A few big storms may erupt over central and southern Texas and portions of Louisiana late Saturday and Saturday night.
"Conditions may really come together to spawn severe thunderstorms over the Lower Mississippi Valley and Deep South on Sunday," Vido said.
It is possible that severe thunderstorms expand northward toward the Ohio Valley and progresses eastward as a squall line across portions of Alabama, Georgia, the Florida Panhandle and the Carolinas during Sunday afternoon and evening.
The final round of the Masters is scheduled for Sunday afternoon as Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.
The setup would favor severe weather impacts ranging from damaging wind gusts and large hail to frequent lightning strikes, flash flooding and at least a few tornadoes.
"It is too early to say that a major severe weather or tornado outbreak will definitely unfold, but conditions appear to be favorable for at least some damaging storms at this point," Vido said.
The same storm system has the potential to unload 3-5 inches of rain and locally higher amounts from northeastern Texas to middle Tennessee, eastern Kentucky and southern Ohio.
This rain, combined with heavy rainfall from recent days and this past winter, can lead to new stream and river flooding and/or aggravate existing high water levels.
Parts of Louisiana have received 7 inches of rain during the first week of April alone.
If the storm takes aim far enough to the north, it could bring drenching rain and wet snow to parts of the Northeast during Sunday night and next Monday.
"The Boston Marathon may be stormy and miserable with cold rain and wind if the storm takes the northern track," Vido said.
There have been deadly and devastating severe weather outbreaks on Palm Sunday in the past. One of the largest severe weather outbreaks in history and on record occurred on Palm Sunday in 1965, and it targeted the Midwest. The outbreak, which spanned April 11-12, killed 271 people and injured 1,500 others.
The Super Outbreak of 2011 occurred later in the month and spanned April 25-28. This outbreak spanned the South and the Midwest, killed 324 people and injured 3,100 others.
The details on the magnitude and timing of the severe weather, tornado and flooding potential will continue to unfold in the coming days. Keep checking back with the latest on AccuWeather.com and the AccuWeather Network.
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