For second week, Deep South under ‘high risk’ for severe weather

Strong, long-track tornadoes possible Thursday

A tornado outbreak is expected across parts of the South Thursday

ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s Deja Vu in the Deep South. Last Wednesday more than 40 tornadoes touched down across parts of the South. Thursday, the Storm Prediction Center highlighted some of the same areas as last week’s outbreak with their rare high risk tag for the likelihood of another tornado outbreak.

The high risk category is the highest level on the Storm Prediction Center’s outlook scale and reserved for the most extreme severe weather outbreaks. At most you may see this threat level a couple of times a year.

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A tornado outbreak, including the potential for long-track, strong tornadoes, is likely across parts of the Deep South and Tennessee Valley Thursday as a strengthening area of low pressure moves out of the Plains.

Severe weather setup

This outbreak has the potential to be even worse than last Wednesday’s outbreak of severe weather.

Future radar

The forecast model above depicts several supercell thunderstorms developing Thursday afternoon and evening. Any discrete, kidney bean-shaped cell in the future radar has the potential to produce long-lived strong tornadoes.

These storms will not move into Central Florida as a strong area of high pressure forces these storms to stay north of our area. Ahead of this storm system, record heat will be possible in the Sunshine State.


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