Most of Louisiana along with eastern parts of Texas and Mississippi are under a National Weather Service (NWS) tornado watch, with authorities warning millions of people are living in areas at risk of tornado strikes over the weekend.
It comes as part of a wider winter storm that has caused travel disruption across parts of the southeastern United States, with AccuWeather reporting that Houston, New Orleans, Nashville, Jackson and Birmingham are at risk of "severe weather" on Saturday, which could include torrential rain and powerful winds.
Why It Matters
Texas was struck by two tornadoes on Thursday which caused property damage but no reported casualties. The twisters were recorded near El Campo in Wharton County and in the Crosby area of Harris County.
Tornadoes can be deadly in the southeastern U.S., with one in May 2024 killing seven people in northern Texas after it hit a truck stop. While tornadoes primarily occur in the summer months they can also strike in winter, particularly in the Gulf Coast states.
What To Know
NWS tornado watches are in place across all of the southeast except the far south of Louisiana, southwestern Mississippi and Texas counties including Angelia, Cherokee, Gregg Houston and Newton until 3 p.m. CST on Saturday.
According to the NWS's storm prediction center there is a 15 percent chance of a tornado strike over the weekend within 25 miles of given points across a swath of northern Louisiana and southern Mississippi, extending slightly across to Georgia in the east and Texas in the west. This area covers is home to nearly 2 million people according to the federal agency. A wider area containing more than 4 million people, extending north into Arkansas, has a 10 percent change of having a tornado strike within a given district according to the center.
The storm prediction center said: "Tornadoes (some strong with at least EF2 damage possible), severe gusts and hail are expected today into tonight. The threat area will shift eastward from parts of north and central Texas early, across east Texas and the lower Mississippi Valley today, then over the Tennessee Valley, parts of Georgia, and the central Gulf Coast tonight."
A tornado with a rating of EF2 on the enhanced fujita scale can have three second gusts of between 111 and 135 miles per hour.
Forecaster AccuWeather expects the severe weather for the southeastern U.S. to extend into Sunday.
They said: "The overall extent of severe weather on Sunday may be most impressive—perhaps reaching a dozen or more states. Storms containing torrential downpours and gusty winds will likely first affect portions of the interstate 77, 81 and 85 corridors in the afternoon then progress toward I-95 in the evening."
What People Are Saying
Atmospheric scientist Matthew Cappucci shared a clip of cloud movement over the southeastern U.S. on X, commenting: "You can SEE the shear – changing winds with height – on satellite.
"Low-level clouds rush north. Mid-level clouds fan northeast. Storms trek ENE. Storms feeling those changing winds with height will rotate. That's why we could see a #tornado outbreak."
What Happens Next
From Sunday cities including Atlanta, Charleston, Richmond, Raleigh, Savannah and Jacksonville could potentially be hit by thunderstorms according to AccuWeather.
Stormy downpours, though of a lower intensity, are also predicted in the northeast with cities including New York, Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh potentially impacted.
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