Severe Weather Outbreak: Texas to Kansas, Missouri

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

April 6,2013; 4:43PM,EDT

After locally violent thunderstorms erupt on Sunday, an outbreak of severe weather will threaten lives and property from Texas to Kansas and Missouri Monday through Wednesday.
Interests from the central Plains to Texas will want to monitor weather conditions closely during the first part of next week.
The weather setup through at least the first half of next week will put lives and property at risk. The severe weather outbreak expected is likely to be the worst of the season so far.
The nature of the storm in local areas has yet to be determined, but some locations have the potential to be hit with violent thunderstorms that bring large hail, damaging wind gusts, frequent lightning strikes and flash flooding.

There is also the potential for a few tornadoes to be produced.
The main severe weather event will be preceded by locally violent thunderstorms from the Texas Panhandle to Missouri Sunday afternoon.
This includes Childress, Texas, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla., Wichita, Kan., and Springfield, Mo.
On Monday, the first storms during the outbreak are likely to fire late in the day or early at night along a push of dry air from the deserts coming in contact with humid air from the Gulf of Mexico. This zone would stretch from the western portions of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
The danger also extends across far southeastern Nebraska and neighboring southwestern Iowa due to the storm's warm front.
The dry line, as it is called by meteorologists, would then advance slowly to the east across the same states--with Nebraska and Iowa being the exceptions--on Tuesday. The strongest thunderstorms on Tuesday will ignite in the afternoon.

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According to Severe Weather Expert Dan Kottlowski, "Initially, the storms will be slow to move eastward over the Plains, but an increase in forward speed is likely toward the middle of the week."
Cities that could be hit by dangerous and damaging weather conditions during Tuesday include Dallas/Fort Worth, Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kan.
By Wednesday, the severe weather is forecast to reach some of the Mississippi Valley states and may organize into a solid line of thunderstorms, known as a squall line.

This image of a rotating, severe thunderstorm near Phoenix, Ariz., that was producing large hail was taken on Oct. 6, 2010, by Flickr user wxcasterphx.

Cities that could face a wall of rain and gusty winds at some point Wednesday could include Houston; Shreveport, La.; Little Rock, Ark.; St. Louis and Springfield, Mo.
North of the severe thunderstorm area, a swath of rain will soak some Midwest and central and northern Plains communities. Snow will also fall over parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota.

AccuWeather.com recommends taking time this weekend to rehearse with family members what to do if severe weather or tornadoes are sighted in your area.