Severe thunderstorms to erupt from Chicago to Nashville, New Orleans into Thursday night

By Renee Duff, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist

March 31,2016; 9:19PM,EDT

 

 

The same system that triggered severe thunderstorms on Wednesday will shift eastward and ignite storms across part of the central United States into Thursday night.
"Another round of severe weather will target parts of the Midwest and Southeast as a potent cold front blasts across the region," AccuWeather Meteorologist Chyna Glenn stated.
The threat zone will move farther eastward and span a 1,000-mile stretch from the lower Great Lakes to Gulf of Mexico coastal waters.
Cities at risk for violent storms include Detroit; Chicago; Indianapolis; Cincinnati; Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee; Tupelo, Mississippi; Huntsville, Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama; and Pensacola, Florida.
"Drenching downpours, very gusty winds and even a couple of tornadoes are possible," Glenn said.
She added that the greatest risk for tornadoes would focus on parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.

Motorists traveling on parts of interstates 10, 20, 40, 55, 65, 69 and 70 should remain alert for rapidly changing weather conditions. Encountering a thunderstorm on the roadway can drastically reduce visibility and force slower highway speeds.
Flight delays are possible at local airports until storms have safely passed.
While the storms will tend to weaken later Thursday night, a few storms with strong wind gusts can survive in a swath from central Ohio to western Georgia and the central part of the Florida Panhandle.
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These storms are expected to gradually weaken as they move eastward, posing mainly a heavy rain threat along the Atlantic Seaboard.
In the wake of the storms, heavy rain will linger across the Gulf Coast states into Friday, increasing the flash flooding threat.
Calmer weather is expected to move into the region for the first weekend of April.

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