Multiday severe weather outbreak April 25-27
Meteorologists are calling for a powerful storm system to move across the Great Plains and Midwest of the U.S. this weekend, creating a multiday threat for severe weather on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Strong low-level winds, warm air and a strong cold front will create an environment capable of producing severe weather. The threat includes the possibility of damaging wind, large hail and even strong tornadoes. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has already outlined a level 3, or enhanced risk, area ahead of the severe weather threat.
Saturday’s forecast
More than 3 million people are under a level 3 enhanced risk threat for severe storms on Saturday as numerous storms are expected to become severe. These areas include Oklahoma City and Tulsa in Oklahoma and Wichita, Kansas.
Large hail, isolated tornadoes and damaging wind gusts are all possible. But as the storms continue into the evening, forecasters expect them to develop into a line of storms, sometimes called a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS). This line of storms often causes damaging wind gusts of more than 58 miles per hour (93 kilometers per hour), but it can also produce tornadoes. Roughly 20% of tornadoes that form in the United States are QLCS tornadoes. They are typically weaker and shorter-lived than a tornado that forms from a supercell (a thunderstorm that has a strong, rotating updraft). But they can be just as dangerous because they more often occur at night.
Sunday’s forecast
By Sunday, the severe threat hasn’t shifted much. The region of greatest concern is largely in Kansas, including Wichita and across the state line into Kansas City, Missouri. This region has a level 3 enhanced risk.
Other areas of concern include up to Omaha, Nebraska, down across Oklahoma and into north Texas. Sunday’s severe threat could also bring storms capable of producing damaging wind gusts, large hail of more than 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter and tornadoes. But the coverage and exact severity could be influenced by how the local atmosphere and weather ingredients come together after the round of severe weather Saturday evening…