Storms, damaging winds threaten South Central states

AccuWeather

AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter explains the recent growth of thunderstorms in the south-central United States.

Transcript

00:00I want to bring in our Chief Meteorologist, Jonathan Porter, from our Severe Weather Center

00:06in Wichita, Kansas.

00:07And I'll tell you what, John, this morning when I first came in, certainly we were talking

00:11to the experts in the Wichita office here.

00:14We're really worried that that line would start dropping tornadoes.

00:18It did early around 3, 4, 5, but it's almost as if that line has outrun the support.

00:25You can see that on the water vapor loop.

00:28Yeah, that's exactly what's happened.

00:32Good morning, Bernie.

00:33The line of storms has outrun the best instability and upper-level support.

00:39And so that's why we've got a narrow rain band here across portions of Oklahoma that's

00:46producing gusty thunderstorms.

00:48But our team, we've been noticing here as we head further south down toward north Texas

00:52there's hardly any lightning.

00:54And so what we've got here is a narrow area where the thunderstorms were possible across

00:59Oklahoma and the best lift and the best forcing in the atmosphere is outrunning where that

01:04line is.

01:05And so that's why a weakening trend with the line over the next couple of hours.

01:09But don't let your guard down here.

01:10Later this afternoon, southeast Texas, Louisiana, and also back to portions of Kansas, we could

01:15have some locally severe thunderstorms.

01:16Yeah, let's watch that line, John, on our future radar here.

01:20That area from north of, right there, right around 2.30, that's the time frame, north

01:26of Oklahoma City toward Wichita, Kansas, closer to the spin that you could see near about

01:31Gage, Oklahoma.

01:34Exactly.

01:36There's a lot of spin in the atmosphere today, and those are the types, when you have such

01:39a high-level atmospheric spin, that can result in the development of severe thunderstorms

01:45and also these widely separated tornadoes.

01:48And that's going to be the case here, again, in that corridor, perhaps even across parts

01:52of central and eastern Kansas, but also especially down toward southeast Texas and western Louisiana.

01:59Look at it.

02:00Lines out, and even along those lines of thunderstorms, you could get those quick tornado spin-ups.

02:05And Bernie, the deeper moisture is going to be across southeast Texas and Louisiana.

02:09That's why we're most concerned about those areas.

02:12You know, the other big story, John, on the southern part of that upper-level feature,

02:16as it comes across Oklahoma, the wind comes out, there's going to be sufficient mixing.

02:21That is, we're going to be able to mix all of that wind energy across.

02:25First of all, here's our severe weather threat as we, today, John, you could see that within

02:30that line.

02:31We still have that moderate risk north and west of Oklahoma City and Dallas later today.

02:35Yeah, we'll have to continue to monitor that area.

02:40And again, watch that further south and east, southeast Texas and Louisiana, out toward

02:45Little Rock as well.

02:46Not widespread, but there can be, be prepared with the AccuWeather app.

02:50Download the AccuWeather app, turn on push notifications, important data, stay weather

02:54aware in those areas.

02:56There's the wind that I was talking about, John.

02:58Again, we're going to be able to mix, take all that air down in the middle part of the

03:02atmosphere right to the surface.

03:03This is going to cause major problems today along I-44, I-35.

03:11Many travel delays, and at the airports, Wichita, Oklahoma City, even toward Dallas.

03:16This is going to be a big deal, slowing down air travel here and making for some bumpy

03:21rides across the central part of the United States.

03:24You know, already this morning, my umbrella blew inside out on the way into the office

03:28here this morning in Wichita, Kansas, and the wind is just going to increase from here.

03:33So the wind, a big story too.

03:35All right.

03:36That's the AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter at our Severe Weather Studio

03:41in Wichita, Kansas.

03:43All right.

03:44Thanks, John.

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