In the wake of this past weekend's deadly severe weather outbreak, the central and eastern United States will face more potentially damaging thunderstorms and tornadoes later this week.
"Another severe weather outbreak is anticipated from the middle to latter days of this week," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sojda. "The severe threat will begin in the Plains on Wednesday then progress eastward, arriving at portions of the Atlantic coast late Friday."
Some of the same communities devastated by this weekend's severe weather in the South will be at risk again in the days leading up to Easter. The threat zone will also expand farther north, targeting areas from Missouri to Michigan that ended the weekend on a snowy note.
The tornado that struck Franklin, Texas late Saturday morning caused significant tree damage. (Twitter/Jamie and Robert Gober)
The storm set to spark the next round of severe weather will first track across the West with rain and mountain snow early this week.
Gusty winds threatening to kick up blowing dust and renew the fire danger will whip over the desert Southwest Tuesday into Wednesday as the storm emerges onto the nation's midsection.
As the storm clashes with warm and moist air, severe thunderstorms can fire along the corridor from eastern Texas to Iowa on Wednesday afternoon and evening.
Cities in the threat zone include Dallas; Oklahoma City; Shreveport, Louisiana; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Springfield and Kansas City, Missouri.
"There is the potential for all modes of severe weather from damaging winds to large hail, flooding downpours and tornadoes associated with thunderstorms throughout this entire area," Sojda said.
The violent thunderstorms may continue to press to the Mississippi River at night, perhaps reaching St. Louis and Memphis, Tennessee.
The severe weather will focus on the eastern U.S. later in the week, threatening to disrupt travelers and activities up to the start of the Easter weekend.
"On Thursday, the severe weather threat can stretch from the Ohio Valley to the central Gulf Coast before targeting areas from the mid-Atlantic states to Florida on Friday," Sojda added.
Damaging winds will be the greatest risk from the severe weather Thursday and Friday.
"While isolated incidents cannot be ruled out farther to the north, the highest threat of hail and tornadoes will be across the South," Sojda said.
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Flooding downpours will also be a concern, especially as the severe thunderstorms advance across the East and can be followed by downpours repeating over the same communities.
Between the severe thunderstorms and heavy rain, holiday travelers on Friday may face disruptions on the air and highways from Washington, D.C.; to Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina; to Jacksonville, Florida.
Strong thunderstorms cannot be ruled out farther north on Friday. Even if that does not occur, downpours can bring slow travel and reduced visibility on roads throughout the northern mid-Atlantic and into New York state on Good Friday.
Rain may bring additional rises on flooded rivers in north-central US
Unlike the powerful storm from last week, the upcoming storm is expected to bring mostly rain to the North-Central states Wednesday into Thursday.
Between the rain and runoff from gradually melting snow early this week, additional rises on rivers are anticipated later this week.
The Big Sioux River in eastern South Dakota and the Minnesota River in southern Minnesota can climb back above major flood stage.
Also in eastern South Dakota, ongoing major river flooding is expected to worsen along the James River. Forecasts from National Weather Service (NWS) hydrologists, however, keep the river below record levels.
As the storm tracks farther east, AccuWeather meteorologists will be monitoring the potential for rain and snowmelt to cause flooding in northern New England around the start of the holiday weekend.
Download the free AccuWeather app to stay alert to severe weather watches and warnings. Keep checking back for updates on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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