The risk for severe weather is expected to peak this weekend as a new storm develops over the Mississippi Valley, strengthens and tracks toward the Great Lakes region. Some of the severe thunderstorms on Saturday may produce tornadoes, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.
Before the weekend, storms drifting across portions of the Plains are expected to be locally heavy and gusty. A few storms may become severe, producing hail up to golf-ball size, damaging wind gusts and localized flash flooding. Regardless of the severity of the storms, lightning strikes will pose a risk for Friday evening football games.
Severe thunderstorms from Friday evening to the overnight hours may be isolated; however, a few strong storms may develop from central Oklahoma to central Iowa.
As the new storm gathers moisture from the Gulf and moves northeast across the Mississippi Valley on Saturday afternoon and evening, thunderstorms are expected to develop and become severe from northeastern Texas and northern Louisiana to central Illinois and Indiana.
Within this area, a more concentrated zone of severe thunderstorms is expected along with a heightened risk for a few tornadoes from central Arkansas to southeastern Missouri and southwestern Illinois.
St. Louis, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee, are major cities within AccuWeather’s moderate to severe weather risk zone.
If the storms organize into a solid line of severe weather, there will be a greater trisk for the storms to progress into the middle portions of Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as in northern Alabama later at night.
AccuWeather.com
Lightning from any thunderstorm could cause delays at football games, golf courses or other outdoor events across the Mississippi Valley on Saturday.
In the northern part of this area, strong wind gusts may occur even without thunder or lightning.
On Sunday, the greatest risk for severe thunderstorms will stretch from the central part of the Appalachians to southern Ontario. As the storms approach Atlanta during the afternoon and potentially hold together into the evening near Charlotte, flight delays may increase during one of the busiest travel times of the weekend.
AccuWeather.com
Especially across the northern extent of the risk, on Sunday, strong wind gusts may occur even in the absence of thunder and lightning in many cases from Kentucky to Ohio and Michigan, eastward to West Virginia, Pennsylvania and western New York.
Strong, potentially damaging wind gusts in any storm through Sunday may be brief-lasting only a few minutes-but could still cause disruption.
AccuWeather.com
Blustery conditions are expected to persist from parts of the Midwest to the Appalachians through early next week.
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