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High Risk Of Severe Weather With Tornadoes In Central U.S.
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April 25, 2024
AccuWeather Global Weather Center – April 25, 2024
AccuWeather expert meteorologists are forecasting a high risk for severe thunderstorms Friday and Saturday, along with the threat of tornadoes.
“This will be a multiple-day event in the central U.S.,” warned AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno. “The setup for Friday centered on Iowa looks very similar to April 16, when a dozen tornadoes touched down in the state.”
The severe weather threat on Friday extends along a 1,000-mile swath from central Texas to southern Minnesota.
“Anyone in the Omaha, Kansas City, and Des Moines area needs to be on the lookout Friday and be aware,” said AccuWeather Severe Weather Expert Guy Pearson. “It’s certainly an ideal environment for those storms to be tornadic.”
Families and businesses in southwest Iowa, southeast Nebraska, northeast Kansas, and northwest Missouri face a high risk of severe thunderstorms that could produce tornadoes, hail, flash flooding, and damaging wind gusts on Friday afternoon into late Friday night.
The severe weather threat shifts to the south over the weekend.
Southeast Kansas, western Missouri, and northeast Oklahoma have a high risk of severe thunderstorms with tornadoes, hail, flash flooding, and widespread damaging wind gusts on Saturday afternoon through late Saturday night.
“This could evolve into a fast-moving or quickly evolving severe weather event for the Plains states later Saturday and Saturday night, after a quiet start to the day,” explained AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Benz.
People planning to travel through the area on Saturday should be prepared for heavy rain, flash flooding, and tornadoes.
“Saturday could bring another day where there are a dozen or more tornadoes from Kansas City to Dallas,” said Rayno.
The severe weather threat shifts east on Sunday, with the risk of isolated tornadoes, hail, and straight-line wind from San Antonio to Chicago.
The expert team of long-range forecasters at AccuWeather’s Global Weather Center issued an alert last week about this severe weather pattern taking shape that would shift the spring severe weather season into high gear in the central United States.
AccuWeather expert meteorologists warned that “Tornado Alley may roar to life” in early March, when the AccuWeather 2024 U.S. Tornado Forecast was issued. The forecast predicts 1,250 to 1,375 tornadoes in the United States this year, slightly higher than the historical average of 1,225 tornadoes annually.
"With such a volatile atmospheric setup favoring severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, AccuWeather meteorologists are increasingly concerned that the situation can escalate to a tornado outbreak, which may even include some particularly intense and long-track tornadoes,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter. “The time period of greatest concern is Friday, lasting into Friday night, and then once again on Saturday into Saturday night.”
Porter says people should have multiple ways to receive severe weather alerts; never rely solely on an outdoor tornado siren for warnings.
“Since we are dealing with a multi-day severe weather threat over similar parts of the country, some areas may face multiple rounds of severe weather. Please don’t let notification fatigue set in. Take every warning seriously and promptly move to safe shelter,” said Porter. "Please remind people you know who live in the affected areas about the severe weather risk. We all live busy lives, and sometimes reaching out by phone, text, email, or social media to let a friend or family member know about the risk for severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and flash flooding could help save their life.”
Porter encourages people to download the AccuWeather app, make sure push notifications are turned on and the volume on your device is turned up, especially during late-night or overnight severe weather threats.
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