Category: Posts EN

 

A dynamic springtime weather pattern remains in control across much of the country. A storm system will develop over the Mid-South Thursday night with scattered storms building over the Ozarks. The animation above shows the evolution of Friday storms as depicted by UBIMET’s high-resolution RACE model. The main threats through Friday morning will be large hail and heavy rainfall, leading to flash flooding in spots.

 

 

Later in the day, instability will build with solar heating closer to the Texarkana region. Storms will form into a stronger squall line and move southeast through the afternoon and evening hours. Isolated tornadoes, very large hail, and damaging winds will occur in this time frame. Storms will tend to weaken by early Saturday morning as they approach the Gulf coastal plain.

Severe thunderstorms tore across Texas on Tuesday and Tuesday evening bringing damaging winds and large hail to parts of the state.

Houston’s Hobby airport was hit especially hard with a severe thunderstorm late Tuesday evening. A preliminary storm survey done by the national weather service concluded that winds reached 80 mph (70 kts) at the airport just before midnight.

Those wind speeds caused damage to a private hangar on the airport grounds. 8 planes at the hangar suffered damage, and all totaled damage estimates at the airport are expected to be in the millions of dollars.

The severe weather in Houston was part of a larger severe weather outbreak that stretched from Texas to Pennsylvania. There were several reports of tornadoes, as well as hundreds of large hail and damaging wind reports from 16 states.

Large hail up to the size of baseballs balls (7 cm) fell near Pangburg, Arkansas Tuesday afternoon. Many reports of wind gusts ranging from 60-70 mph (52-61 kts) were observed, causing additional damage and even several injuries.

 

Scattered severe storms have erupted from Texas through the Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley today. Currently the storms have consolidated to form a long squall line moving steadily east. High winds will be the most widespread threat going forward, although isolated tornadoes or large hail may still occur.

 

 

Numerous reports of very large hail and high winds (green and blue dots above, respectively) have been received since severe storms developed around midday. Hail stones to three inches (7.5 cm) in diameter were observed near Poplar Grove, Missouri. Gusts upwards of 70 mph (113 kph) have occurred in several places. There have also been several reports of tornadoes (red dots above), including one near Galatia, Illinois that completely destroyed several homes and farm buildings. More reports are likely as the squall line moves east overnight.

A strong low pressure system will move across the center of the US on Tuesday igniting scattered severe thunderstorms from Texas to Ohio.

The risk for severe thunderstorms will begin along a cold front during the midday hours across northeast Texas, southeast Oklahoma, and up into central Missouri. As the cold front tracks eastward, it will move into an air mass that is increasingly favorable for the develop of gusty to severe thunderstorms.

Damaging winds and hail are the primary concerns with the strongest storms, however, frequent lightning and localized flash flooding can accompany almost any storm that develops.

Cities at risk for severe weather during the day Tuesday include: Dallas, Texas; Saint Louis, Missouri; and Indianapolis, Indiana.

The severe weather threat will shift eastward Tuesday evening to include cities such as Columbus, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; and Houston, Texas.

By later Tuesday night, most storms will have diminished below severe criteria.