Posted on 12/21/2013 12:38:09 PM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
PUBLIC SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 1050 AM CST SAT DEC 21 2013
...WIDESPREAD SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED OVER PARTS OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI TO OHIO VALLEYS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...
The NWS Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK is forecasting the development of a few intense tornadoes and widespread damaging winds over parts of the Lower Mississippi to Ohio valleys this afternoon and tonight.
The areas most likely to experience this activity include:
Northwest Alabama Southeast Arkansas Central and Northeast Louisiana much of Mississippi Western and Middle Tennessee
Elsewhere, severe storms are also possible from parts of the Ohio Valley to the Gulf Coast.
A potent jet stream disturbance now over west Texas will track northeast into Red River Valley later today, before accelerating northeast into the mid-Mississippi Valley tonight and early Sunday.
Associated with this disturbance, an area of low pressure now forming over northeast Texas will become better organized as it moves northeast into southern Arkansas this afternoon, northwest Tennessee this evening, and the lower Ohio Valley early Sunday.
Ahead of the low, a broad flow of unseasonably warm and humid air will surge north from the western Gulf of Mexico into the lower Mississippi, the lower Tennessee, and the Ohio Valleys through early Sunday.
The increasing moisture and strong wind field that will accompany the jet stream impulse will create an environment favorable for bands of rotating thunderstorms capable of both potentially strong tornadoes and damaging wind over a broad swath extending from eastern Texas and southern Louisiana northeastward into the lower Mississippi and lower Tennessee Valleys.
Although the severe weather threat is expected to be greatest this afternoon through early tonight over parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee, a more conditional risk for tornadoes and damaging winds will persist into early Sunday from the central Gulf Coast northeast into the mid-Ohio Valley.
State and local emergency managers are monitoring this developing situation. Those in the threatened area are urged to review severe weather safety rules and to listen to radio, television, and NOAA Weather Radio for possible watches, warnings, and statements later today.
..Mead/Corfidi.. 12/21/2013
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