It’s the heart of spring tornado season south of the border and Monday’s weather could prove dangerous for millions in the centre of the country.
The U.S. Storm Prediction Center (SPC) calls for widespread severe thunderstorms across the Plains and Midwestern states through the afternoon and nighttime hours on Monday.
This week’s stateside severe weather threat is linked to the same low-pressure system that’ll bring heavy rain to the southern Prairies.
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A moderate risk for severe weather—a level four on the five-category scale gauging the risk for dangerous storms—is in place for portions of central Oklahoma and southern Kansas, including the Oklahoma City metro area.
Storms are likely to develop on the western Plains with the heat of the day Monday, quickly organizing into supercells capable of producing strong, long-lived tornadoes across much of Oklahoma and Kansas. These supercells could also produce ‘giant’ hail as large as 10 cm in diameter, or about the size of a softball.
Heading into the evening hours, forecasters expect thunderstorms to quickly merge into one or more powerful squall lines that track east through the overnight hours late Monday into early Tuesday.
The biggest threat in these squall lines would be widespread damaging wind gusts of 120+ km/h, as well as a continued risk for embedded tornadoes.
A renewed threat for severe weather will push east into the Midwest and Ohio Valley on Tuesday. Damaging wind gusts would be the greatest threat with these storms.
Travellers passing through Dallas, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Omaha, or St. Louis will likely encounter flight delays and cancellations as a result of this severe weather.
Drivers are urged to use extreme caution and closely monitor local watches and warnings. Vehicles provide no protection from the destructive winds of a tornado. If you’re in a vehicle during a tornado warning, stop at the nearest sturdy building and take shelter indoors.
Never try to seek shelter from a tornado or hailstorm beneath an overpass. These structures do not provide any protection from high winds and the ensuing traffic jams are exceptionally dangerous.
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This is the latest in a long series of severe weather outbreaks to affect the central United States over the past couple of weeks.
Multiple deadly tornadoes touched down across the Plains to end the month of April. Last month saw the second-most tornadoes ever reported in the U.S. during the month of April, according to preliminary data from the SPC.