A variety of springtime severe storms are forecast to pop-up today in portions of the Mid Atlantic and South, prompting the National Weather Service to issue Severe Thunderstorm Watches across several states.
The greatest threat of severe weather will be over the southern states in an area stretching from eastern Texas east to South Carolina and north to western Kentucky. Within this area, the greatest risk of severe conditions is over east-central Louisiana, central Mississippi, and west-central Alabama. Several clusters of ongoing convection from southeast Texas to the southern Appalachians are expected to blossom today; a moist and moderate to strongly unstable air mass exists across a broad region here making conditions ripe for severe weather.
The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center says storms should expand in coverage and intensity this afternoon with a corresponding uptick in wind damage potential expected aside from a persistent severe hail risk. Widespread damaging winds, some significant, and brief tornadoes will be possible as the most potent area of activity evolves across the lower Mississippi Valley into Alabama.
Beyond the south, there’s also a risk of severe storms over portions of the Mid Atlantic from northern North Carolina into Virginia and eastern Maryland. Here, the Storm Prediction Center says there should be scattered damaging winds from strong to isolated severe gusts as multicell clusters spread towards the Mid-Atlantic Coast.
With the threat of severe weather likely, the National Weather Service has issued Severe Thunderstorm Watches across portions of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas today. A Tornado Watch is also in effect for portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
