South-central US on alert for severe thunderstorm risk through Saturday

By Brandon Buckingham, AccuWeather Meteorologist

Updated Nov. 30, 2019 2:22 PM

A powerful storm system that brought heavy rain and snow to the West and blizzard conditions to the Plains will tap into enough warm and humid air to raise the threat of damaging thunderstorms over the south-central United States to start the weekend.

Some of these storms will have the potential to produce damaging wind gusts, hail and even an isolated tornado or two.

Clouds and a few showers lingering across Texas and Oklahoma limited thunderstorm activity during the day on Friday.

"This storm tracking across the middle of the nation will tap into Gulf of Mexico moisture which will fuel heavy, gusty thunderstorms into Saturday evening across parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and western Mississippi." AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Michael LeSeney stated.

Thunderstorm activity was limited to areas east of Interstate 35 Friday night. Both Tulsa, Oklahoma and Fort Smith, Arkansas witnessed a few rumbles of thunder overnight as storms rolled through.

Travelers along this interstate as well as interstates 10, 20, 30, 40, 45 and 55 will need to keep an eye out for rapidly changing conditions through Saturday.

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The risk of severe thunderstorms will shift eastward into the lower Mississippi Valley into Saturday night.

Shreveport and Baton Rouge Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; and possibly even Memphis, Tennessee; may all have thunderstorms Saturday. Gusty to locally severe storms may erupt just north of Houston as well.

The duration of thunderstorm activity will be short-lived for many of these locations as it is likely that these storms will form in a line ahead of an advancing cold front tracking through the region.

In the wake of the line of thunderstorms tracking through the region, a west-northwest wind will usher in cooler and drier air later Saturday night.

Conditions will remain dry and settled through the remainder of the weekend and into early next week across the South Central states.

Download the free AccuWeather app to get a more detailed forecast for your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.