The latest severe thunderstorm present in the United States is predicted to continue into early next week. Severe weather and thunderstorms are not unusual for early May, and this May is following the normal trend of weather patterns. This system is not expected to be destructive as the tornado outbreak that ravaged the south late last month. But, this system will definitely pose a threat of scattered severe thunderstorms every day throughout the end of this week and into next.
The threat areas for Friday are Ohio Valley, middle and lower Mississippi Valley to the east, central, and south Texas area. These regions can await hail, damaging straight line winds, and locally heavy rainfall that could possibly lead to flash flooding in some areas. Louisville, Memphis, Houston, and San Antonio are the main cities that that this weather is expected to hit.
On Saturday, the lower Mississippi Valley, mid Mississippi Valley and Oklahoma will be seeing scattered severe weather. The main threats for Saturday are hail, possible tornado activity, and overnight thunderstorms clusters with hail and heavy rain also possible. Columbia and Springfield, Missouri are the cities that will most likely be hit the hardest throughout Saturday and during Saturday night.
Sunday the system becomes more severe and more widespread than it had been the past two days. This cluster will expand into the southern Plains and into the mid Mississippi Valley. This will include Des Moines, Kansas City, Wichita, and Oklahoma City. These regions can anticipate large hail, a few tornado touchdowns, damaging winds, and a flash flood threat that is mainly predicted for Kansas and in the Northeastward direction. This severe weather will continue into the night and into Monday morning where the system will begin to die down.
The forecast for the Northwest and Rockies through Mother’s Day is on the other side of the spectrum. These regions can expect to see snow due to a strong southward dip of a jet stream that will move from the Pacific Northwest on Friday into the Four Corners by Sunday. This snow will spread throughout the northern Rockies on Saturday and heavy snow is a high possibility in southwest Montana, northwest Wyoming and the Bitterroots and Sawtooth range of Idaho. On Sunday the snow will shift into the mountains of Utah and the higher end of Colorado. The snow in these areas will begin to taper off on Monday.
Accumulations of over one foot are more than likely in the Colorado mountains and south-central Wyoming. Thundersnow is also a possibility as well. Between Denver and Colorado Springs accumulations of over six inches are possible. Stay tuned to your local weather authority or The Weather Channel for any updates on the weather in your area!