As a potent, multifaceted storm rolls out from the Rockies, severe weather ranging from high winds to tornadoes will be possible from the northwestern Gulf coast to the Mississippi Valley, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. Approximately 30 million people in the south-central United States will be at risk for severe thunderstorms on Tuesday alone. "We are fairly confident that there will be multiple tornadoes on the ground from late Tuesday to early Tuesday night," AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. "People should take this threat seriously."
The storm will interact with warmth and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico pushed along by stiff winds. Heavy, gusty and perhaps violent thunderstorms will erupt later in the day Tuesday and Tuesday night as energy from the jet stream moves in miles above the ground.
The first storms are likely to fire from portions of northeastern Texas, northwestern Louisiana and central and eastern Arkansas from mid- to late afternoon on Tuesday. As a push of colder air continues to move along, the storms will shift eastward into western and central portions of Mississippi and expand northward into southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and the western parts of Kentucky and Tennessee during Tuesday evening.
The most widespread threat from the storms on Tuesday will likely be due to damaging wind gusts, which will be capable of downing trees and power lines as well as causing damage to structures. Gusts from the storms will frequently reach 60-70 mph with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ wind gust to 85 mph possible.
However, given the extreme amount of wind shear expected in the atmosphere, a number of thunderstorms may become intense enough to produce tornadoes. Wind shear is the change in winds from the ground to several thousand feet up in the atmosphere and can cause thunderstorms to rotate. When a thunderstorm rotates, the risk of a tornado increases substantially.
