North Texas, Oklahoma and the southern Mississippi River Valley are increasingly at risk for a severe outbreak through tonight with severe winds and hail the most damaging perils. Expansion of the area of moderate risk and significantly severe wind and hail threats now include the Dallas Ft. Worth Metroplex as well as Oklahoma City and Tulsa, OK.
Summary
In contrast to recent events, the main perils of risk are extreme wind and large hail rather than tornado in this event. The main perils of risk in order of severity and coverage:
- widespread damaging winds with some gusts in excess of 75 mph in supercell thunderstorms, emerging into a straight line wind threat later this evening
- large hail in excess of 2”
- a few isolated tornadoes before supercell thunderstorms merge into a large line of storms overnight
- activity will continue into tomorrow across the Southeastern US with a slight risk of severe weather, with predominantly elevated wind gusts being the dominant threat Wednesday.
[caption id="attachment_49928" align="aligncenter" width="730"]
Severe Wind Outlook through 6AM Wednesday April 29, including 13 million people at risk for significantly severe wind gusts. Source: NOAA/SPC.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_49929" align="aligncenter" width="732"]
Severe Hail Outlook through 6AM Wednesday April 29. Significantly severe hail in excess of 2" is likely across central/eastern Oklahoma and adjoining counties in Kansas and Missouri. Source: NOAA/SPC.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_49938" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
Infrared satellite imagery shows the waning of thunderstorm activity over coastal Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. The main area of focus for the severe weather threat later today through this evening occurs along the cold front moving south across the central US. approaching eastern Kansas and central Oklahoma. Source: tropicaltidbits.com[/caption] Useful Links
- Official watches and warnings, and statements from emergency management agencies supersede this update, and should be closely followed concerning matters of personal safety.
- Updated statements from the SPC can be found at www.spc.noaa.gov.
- Local watches and warnings can be found at www.weather.gov for U.S. locations.