An unseasonal wave of hurricanes will hit the US

NOAA

A wave of unseasonably severe storms will hit the US between late afternoon and Wednesday. Strong and long-lasting tornadoes, damaging winds, hail, and flash flooding are likely to hit the southern and southeastern United States beginning this afternoon.

The area at risk for severe weather is from the Gulf Coast to the Ohio Valley, although the highest risk zone is predicted to be in the lower Mississippi Valley. The danger zone includes cities in northern and central Louisiana, much of Mississippi, southeastern Arkansas, southwestern Tennessee, and western Alabama. Alexandria and Monroe, Louisiana, Jackson, Mississippi and Memphis, Tennessee are some of the cities in the danger zone.

Severe storms are expected to spread further into Alabama, northwest Georgia, central and eastern Tennessee, central Kentucky and the upper Ohio Valley tonight and into Wednesday morning. In these areas, the biggest danger is not windstorms and hurricanes.

A low pressure system is bringing lots of snow to the Rocky Mountains further west. Ahead of the system, warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico will move toward the southern United States. Warm, moist tropical air can provide the energy needed to create severe weather such as hurricanes.

NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued a “moderate” severe weather warning on Tuesday. This is the 14th day in 2022 that a moderate risk area has appeared in the SPC forecast. The last one happened three weeks ago during a hurricane in the southern United States.

SPC/NOAA

Tornado waves are less common this time of year as the weather cools off in most parts of the US, but episodes of severe storms in the US occur late as warm air moves inland from the tropics and a cold front advances. through spring and winter.