More than 6 million people face the highest risk of severe weather Friday as a storm system threatened parts of the central United States, the Storm Prediction Center said.
The National Weather Service said scattered severe thunderstorms could begin late Thursday in the Texas Panhandle, western Oklahoma and parts of Kansas, with large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes possible. The strongest storms were expected Friday across much of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri and into nearby states, the agency said.
“This is probably our first real event this season where people are really starting to pay attention getting into the spring storm season,” said Melissa Mayes, deputy director of the Washington County Emergency Management Agency in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Mayes said local emergency managers planned to use social media to push out safety tips and raise awareness.
The Storm Prediction Center said the area at highest risk includes the Kansas City and Tulsa metropolitan areas. Another 22 million people were placed in a slightly lower risk category that covers Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Omaha and Milwaukee, the center said.
AccuWeather meteorologists said the setup is a clash between warm air from the Gulf Coast and cooler Canadian air behind cold fronts. The National Weather Service’s long-range forecast discussion said temperatures could be 20 to 30 degrees above average this weekend, with highs reaching the 80s as far north as parts of the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic. The weather service cited forecasts of 81 degrees in Louisville, 82 in Atlanta and 74 in Washington, D.C.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
