Deep South, Midwest Face Significant Severe Weather Outbreak | WeatherBug
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Deep South, Midwest Face Significant Severe Weather Outbreak

November 30, 2022
UPDATED By WeatherBug Meteorologists
A particularly dangerous situation is unfolding across the Lower Mississippi Valley and Deep South currently with additional rounds of serious weather expected to continue through tonight.
 
A pool of warm air in place across Texas and Louisiana set the stage for severe weather to begin this afternoon as a low pressure system sent a cold front across the central U.S. The front continues to sweep through the Mississippi Valley this evening, with storms along and ahead of the front continuing into the Southeast and Lower Ohio Valley overnight into Wednesday.
 
This will set the stage for a significant outbreak of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. The Storm Prediction Center has taken the step to consider this a Moderate Risk for severe thunderstorms for northeastern Louisiana, central Mississippi and northwestern Alabama. It is highly unusual to issue this level of risk during the colder months of the year, but it denotes how volatile the atmosphere is expected to be today through tonight.
 
Strong upper-level winds will likely help to generate storm gusts of 60 to 75 mph, and spin in the atmosphere will likely lead to tornado development. Hail to the size of baseballs will also be possible from the storms. The storms are likely to turn severe across eastern Texas and central Arkansas this afternoon but will reach peak-intensity by mid-to-late evening as they maneuver further into the Mississippi Valley and Deep South.

Tornado Watches are in effect across the Lower Mississippi Valley from western Louisiana to central Alabama, including parts of Arkansas and much of Mississippi. Citites such as Monroe, La., Greenville, Greenwood, Columbus, Meridian, Hattiesburg and Jackson, Miss., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., should pay very close attention to any developing weather situations as storms continue this evening. 
 
The timing of the storms after dark is particularly concerning as it is obviously more difficult to see a nighttime tornado, which reduces the available warning and preparation time. Some of these dangerous storms could last into early Wednesday morning, which would have them impacting Greenville, Miss., and Alexandria, La., after bedtime.
 
Make sure you have a weather radio with fresh batteries and a horn or siren – so that it can be turned on and alarm you while you are sleeping. Practice the route from your bedroom to your safe location or storm cellar, so that you’ll be better able to find it when the storms approach. If you have outdoor holiday decorations, be sure that they are safely tied down, so that they don’t become airborne in the storms.
 
While severe weather is not as prevalent in November and December as it is in the springtime, powerful storms can still pack a massive punch. Eight people were killed in a tornado outbreak that included an EF-4 storm that plowed across Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky on December 10-11, 2021, with another outbreak just four days later producing 120 tornadoes and gusts as high as 100 mph across Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.