Unlike during the first half of the week, hail and damaging winds will be the primary concerns as lines of storms race across the South.
ATLANTA – More rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms are expected to erupt on Thursday, with more than 80 million in heightened threat zones for severe weather.
Complexes of thunderstorms are expected to pop up at any time during the day and impact communities from Texas through the mid-Atlantic.
Cities such as Atlanta and Dallas are in a Level 3 out of 5 threat zone for potentially damaging weather, while communities between Baltimore and Jacksonville, Florida, along the I-95 corridor, are in a Level 2 risk zone.
A slow-moving frontal boundary that has produced days of tornadoes from the Plains to the mid-South will again be the focal point for the rounds of precipitation.
“Texarkana and Shreveport may see a couple of those storms first, and then we start to see this really flourish once again for the afternoon and evening hours, eventually pouring into areas like Mississippi, Alabama, back towards Georgia by the late evening and overnight. We’ll watch areas like Atlanta that could get very active for the overnight hours and into early Friday,” said FOX Weather meteorologist Kiyana Lewis.
(FOX Weather)
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Unlike during activity that began the week, the main threats from the storms appear to be hail and damaging winds versus tornadoes.
Meteorologists might use the terms quasi-linear convective system, squall line or even bow echo to describe Thursday’s activity, which represent a substantial wind threat.
The Storm Prediction Center warns that some storms could be capable of wind gusts to hurricane-force.
The FOX Forecast Center also warns the hail threat is also expected to be appreciable over the Lone Star State.
“I think we really have to watch even this component. We’ll have an egg-sized hail threat over a good chunk of eastern Texas, including the state’s capital of Austin and back towards Dallas,” said Lewis.
(FOX Weather)
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Friday forecast
The risk of storms is expected to continue through at least Friday across the Southeast, but an organized severe weather outbreak is not anticipated.
Despite the lack of organization, any thunderstorm that develops will have the possibility of turning severe with hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes.
Cities such as Mobile, Alabama; Tallahassee, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; and Charleston, South Carolina, are included in the heightened risk zone for strong to severe storms.
Beyond Friday, the frontal boundary is expected to push offshore, which will allow the region to be thunderstorm-free over the weekend.
(FOX Weather)