With residents of Mississippi and portions of Alabama reeling from the damage sustained during Friday night’s deadly tornado outbreak, more severe weather is occurring across the Southeast.
Threat level: The NWS issued a rare high-risk outlook for excessive rainfall in Alabama and Georgia through Monday morning, including parts of Atlanta, and warned of potentially catastrophic flooding in these areas. Those two states plus southern Mississippi also faced the threat of tornadoes Sunday night.
- The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) warned of the likelihood of “several tornadoes” that could include “a few strong tornadoes” of EF-2 intensity or greater in southern Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia into Sunday night.
- The SPC placed the region from northeastern Louisiana to southern Alabama at a “moderate risk” for severe thunderstorms Sunday. This is a level 4 out of 5 on the storm threat scale.
- The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for portions of far eastern Louisiana and all of central Mississippi around 4 pm local time. The watch is scheduled to expire at 11 pm local time on Sunday night.
By the numbers: More than 2,7 million people live in the excessive rainfall high-risk area, including parts of metro Atlanta.
Zoom in: At least one tornado caused damage in Georgia on Sunday morning, per a storm report to the SPC. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) declared a state of emergency.
- There’s a risk for more tornadoes, especially Sunday evening in central Louisiana, southern Mississippi and Alabama, when the air’s more unstable.
- Forecasters warned wind shear, which refers to winds blowing in different directions and/or speed with height, would be maximized as storms move into Mississippi and Alabama later on Sunday. This is a key ingredient for tornado formation that was in abundance on Friday night.
- Other severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and large hail were likely in the Carolinas…
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