Federal Agency: Tens of Millions Face Severe Weather From Texas to Virginia

Severe thunderstorms are expected on Monday, April 1, 2024, into the evening, across a broad swath from the southern Plains to the lower Missouri and Ohio Valley regions. National Weather Service via The Epoch Times

Tens of millions of Americans will face severe weather, including storms, tornadoes, and hail, in a multi-day outbreak beginning this week, according to federal and private forecasters.

Generally, the first week of April marks the start of the most active three months of tornadoes in the United States. Tornadoes are expected to hit multiple states, including the middle part of the Mississippi Valley and the southern Plains states, said the National Weather Service.

The agency said it “issued an enhanced risk” for severe thunderstorms for portions of those areas until Tuesday morning.

“The hazards associated with these thunderstorms are frequent lightning, severe thunderstorm wind gusts, hail, and a few tornadoes. Besides, there is an increased threat of EF2 to EF5 tornados over parts of the Southern Plains and Middle Mississippi Valley,” the agency advised on Monday morning.

In the mid-Atlantic states, rain, thunderstorms, and similar impacts will develop Monday, it said.

According to a forecast issued by the agency’s Storm Prediction Center, northeastern Texas, northwestern Arkansas, most of Missouri, the southern half of Illinois, a small sliver of northwestern Tennessee, southern Indiana, and a small section of southwestern Ohio are all under an ‘enhanced’ severe weather risk for Monday.

“Severe thunderstorms are expected today into this evening within a broad swath from the southern Plains to the lower Missouri and Ohio Valley regions. Tornadoes (a few strong), destructive hail, and damaging thunderstorm gusts all are possible,” the department warned on its website Monday.

An enhanced risk for severe storms later in the week is expected from northern Alabama and Mississippi to southern Ohio, officials said. Private forecasters like Fox News, CNN, and others say that about 50 million people will face severe weather this week.

For Monday, residents in Dallas, Oklahoma, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati could see severe weather, it was forecast. For Tuesday, cities such as Cincinnati, Louisville, Charleston in West Virginia, Nashville, Washington, and Baltimore could face large hail and wind damage, according to Fox Weather.

The hazards associated with those thunderstorms also include “frequent lightning, severe thunderstorm wind gusts, hail, and a few tornadoes,” the NWS said Monday, adding that heavy rain can be anticipated over eastern Ohio, the Tennessee Valleys, and the central Appalachian Mountain region.

“The associated heavy rain will create mainly localized areas of flash flooding, with urban areas, roads, and small streams the most vulnerable,” it warned. Flood watches and advisories were issued by the NWS for Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Regarding hail, Fox Weather’s Kendall Smith warned that “we’re talking the size of baseballs.”

“I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want a baseball to come crashing down while I’m driving on the highway, or even just my home in general. So you need to take those precautions today and make sure that you are ready,” the meteorologist warned.

But another private forecaster, Matt Benz of AccuWeather, said that the severe storms “may hold off until late in the day Monday, while storms farther to the north are possible at just about any time from Monday to Monday night” in places like Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.

The storm system by Tuesday will then move into the Great Lakes region by Wednesday morning, according to the NWS, and it may trigger snowfall in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan starting late Tuesday into Wednesday.

“Further, rain and snow will move into parts of New England overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. The heaviest snow will be over the northern half of the L.P. of Michigan,” it says.

Generally, tornadoes in the United States tend to first occur in the southern portion and later in the north because warmer spring weather comes earlier in the south, according to the NWS. Tornadoes also tend to occur in the early evening or late afternoon.