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Dangerous Weather Threatens East Today, Central U.S. Monday

May 20, 2019
UPDATED By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Fred Allen
After a destructive start to the weekend throughout the central U.S., a new part of the nation will close out the weekend with big thunderstorms. A larger, more significant severe storm outbreak will target parts of the central and southern Plains for the start of the work week.

A robust upper-level disturbance accelerating from the Great Lakes into eastern Canada will continue to pump unseasonably warm and humid air northward ahead of it. In its wake, significantly cooler and drier air will filter south, and the two will foster multiple lines or clusters of big thunderstorms through early tonight.

Severe Thunderstorm Watches are in effect from eastern West Virginia to Vermont. Frederick, Md., Scranton, Harrisburg and Altoona, Pa., Martinsburg, W.Va., Poughkeepsie, Binghamton, Albany, Glens Falls, and Syracuse, N.Y., Pittsfield, Mass., and Burlington and Montpelier, Vt., are all included within the watches.

One such severe weather danger zone will be found along an east-to-west draped warm front that will lift slowly northward across New York State and central New England. Here, severe thunderstorms will multiply and congeal into clusters or lines by late this afternoon into early tonight. Further south across the Mid-Atlantic, thunderstorms will form along the Appalachian Spine and spread toward the Interstate 95 corridor.

A second and third area would be right ahead of the cold front from Kentucky to eastern Michigan, and early on Monday morning across the Texas Panhandle along a warm front. The zone from Kentucky to Michigan will likely experience multiple lines of robust thunderstorm activity racing east and northeast.

Here, a Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued. Indianapolis and South Bend, Ind., are at risk for damaging winds and large hail.

In most locations, the primary risks packed by the thunderstorms will be damaging wind gusts ranging from 60 to 70 mph and hail larger than golf balls; a brief tornado is also possible. Further west across the Texas Panhandle, the predominant severe risk will be hail as large as baseballs early on Monday.

Detroit, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Evansville, Ind., Louisville, Ky., Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Scranton, Pa., Rochester and Utica, N.Y., Burlington, Vt., and Lubbock to Amarillo, Texas, will need to keep a watchful eye to the sky for threatening thunderstorms through tonight and early on Monday morning.

Besides dangerous severe weather, the thunderstorms will unleash heavy rain in a short time causing flash flooding, especially in areas of poor drainage or where storm debris collects. Remember, if you encounter a water-covered roadway, be sure to “Turn Around, Don’t Drown” since the water could be much deeper than it appears.

An even larger, more significant severe weather outbreak will be possible for the start of the work week across the central and southern Plains. A threat so significant, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center has maintained a Moderate Risk for the eastern Texas Panhandle into western and central Oklahoma, including Woodward to Oklahoma City and Fort Sill, Okla., and Wichita Falls, Texas.

On Saturday, one person was injured when a possible tornado hit a house in Ballinger, Texas. Another possible tornado caused damage at a natural gas production facility near Coalgate, Okla. Tennis ball sized hail was reported near Utopia, Texas, and an 86 mph wind gust was recorded in Emporia, Kan., with Lyons, Kan., recording 80 mph gusts and Pocola, Okla., seeing gusts to 78 mph.

Keep in mind that lightning is one of Mother Nature's most dangerous killers. “When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors” because if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to the storm to be struck by lightning, even if the sun is shining.