Unseasonable warmth is setting the stage for damaging thunderstorms capable of bringing powerful wind, large hail and tornadoes to nearly 175 million people in the central and eastern United States Sunday and Monday.
March has already dealt a slew of potent storms and tallied up more tornado reports than as of the same time last year.
Some of the same areas hit hard by a deadly storm two weeks ago could end up in the path of the next round of thunderstorms.
While this weekend’s forecast doesn’t look to be as extreme, danger could ramp up quickly and there are millions of people potentially in harm’s way.
A few severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and hail are possible Saturday night, mainly from Kansas and Missouri to Iowa, as the storm starts to form. But a much more widespread and dangerous severe weather threat will develop on Sunday once the storm hits full strength.
Here’s what to expect this weekend and early next week.
A cold front stretching from the Midwest to the southern Plains on Sunday will erase any late-springlike heat that built up over the eastern half of the country. Chilly air behind this front will clash with warm, moist air ahead of it and explosive thunderstorms will develop where these two air masses meet.
An additional 45 million people are under a level 2 of 5 risk in surrounding areas, including Dallas, Chicago and Cleveland.
More than 25 million people are under a level 3 of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms Sunday, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
Nashville, Indianapolis and St. Louis are just a few of the major cities included in this wide-reaching risk.
Storms will begin late Sunday afternoon from Illinois to eastern Texas and get more violent as they expand east Sunday evening and overnight through much of the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys.
Very large hail bigger than golf balls, damaging wind gusts and tornadoes are expected, according to the SPC.
The atmosphere will be primed for tornadoes and a few could be strong – rated EF2 or greater – and long-lived, the SPC warned.
