More severe thunderstorms are rolling across the central, eastern, and southern United States this weekend, bringing high winds, flash flooding, and dangerous lightning.
Through Saturday night, severe weather will impact about a dozen states, stretching from Texas up to Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. A highly concentrated danger zone currently sits between Wichita, Kansas, and St. Louis, Missouri.
“Due to an increased confidence in widespread damaging winds, AccuWeather experts have issued a ‘high’ risk for portions of the Plains,” said AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex Duffus. “Severe thunderstorms will also pose the risk of flooding downpours, hail and even isolated tornadoes through Saturday night.”
At the same time, localized storms are hitting the East Coast, reaching from central Florida up through the Carolinas. Because this weather is moving over popular beaches, forecasters warn that lightning is a serious threat heading into Saturday evening. Open-air structures like beach tents, picnic pavilions, and golf carts do not offer safe shelter from lightning strikes.
On Sunday, the storm risk shifts northward along the eastern seaboard. The threat area will expand from Georgia all the way up through New York, western New England, and into southern Quebec.
Several major cities sit right in the storm’s path, including Charlotte, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City, and Montreal. The primary dangers on Sunday will be flooding downpours and high winds, though a brief tornado cannot be entirely ruled out. Forecasters expect the storms to move through these cities quickly, taking up only a few hours of the day.
Meanwhile, another pocket of severe weather will strike the south-central region on Sunday, targeting northern Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, southern Oklahoma, and northern Mississippi.
Looking past the weekend, heavy rain will continuously soak the region from coastal Texas to northern Florida through the middle of next week. While the steady rain will help ease local drought conditions, the sheer volume of water is expected to cause major flooding in some areas. Forecasters note that potential tropical weather developing in the Gulf of Mexico could also play a significant role in next week’s rainfall.
READ: Pacific Hurricane Season Roars To Life As Tropical Storm Amanda Forms, 2 More Systems Eye Mexico
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