Thursday, December 24, 2015

Severe Weather, Flash Flooding Threat into This Weekend Across the South

December 24,2015
The threat of isolated severe thunderstorms and flash flooding will continue into Friday in the vicinity of a frontal boundary that is draped from the central Appalachians to the Lower Mississippi Valley. The severe thunderstorm threat may be lower in comparison to previous days, but locally heavy rain has and will continue to lead to some flash flooding.
(MORE: Latest News on Tornado Damage and Flooding)
Flash flood watches are in effect for parts of the Appalachians and Southeast, where bouts of heavy rain will continue over the next few days. Flood watches have also been posted for the Ozarks and southeastern Plains, where heavy rainfall is likely this weekend.
A flash flood emergency was issued for Gilmer County, Georgia, where river gauges were near or approaching record levels. Rescues and evacuations have been reported in the county as well, according to an emergency manager report to the National Weather Service.
Recent heavy rain caused mudslides in Macon County, North Carolina, and flash flooding in other parts of northern Georgia.

Flood Alerts
The preliminary estimated tornado count for Wednesday is 20, according to severe weather expert Dr. Greg Forbes of The Weather Channel, with the greatest concentration of damaging tornadoes over northern Mississippi. Damaging tornadoes also ripped through parts of Indiana and Tennessee. Elsewhere, wind damage and hail to the size of baseballs struck parts of Arkansas, southeast Missouri and Illinois earlier Wednesday.
Below are more details on the forecast, including the potential for additional rounds of severe weather and flash flooding through this weekend. You will also find the latest radar imagery along with watches and warnings.
Severe Weather Forecast

Short-Term Thunderstorm Forecast
Friday (Christmas Day)
  • Threat areas: A few strong to severe storms may fire along the front from northwest Georgia southwestward to eastern Texas and Louisiana. Flash flooding will continue to be a significant threat ovre parts of the Southeast.
  • Potential threats: Locally damaging wind gusts, heavy rain, and possibly a tornado.
  • Cities: Birmingham | Jackson, Mississippi | Shreveport, Louisiana
Saturday
  • Threat areas: North and central Texas, southeastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Locally heavy rain and flooding may extend northeast of this area into Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, northern Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania.
  • Potential threats: Damaging winds, large hail, a few tornadoes and flash flooding.
  • Cities: Dallas-Fort Worth | San Antonio
Sunday
  • Threat areas: East and south Texas to Louisiana, southern Arkansas and Mississippi.
  • Potential threats: Damaging winds, a few tornadoes, flash flooding and isolated hail.
  • Cities: Houston | Jackson, Mississippi | Shreveport
Monday
  • The threat of severe weather may continue in parts of southeast Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and southwest Tennessee.

Saturday's Thunderstorm Forecast

Sunday's Thunderstorm Forecast

Total Rainfall Forecast
For specific tornado threat forecasts, check out the latest TOR:CON forecasts from severe weather expert, Dr. Greg Forbes.
Radar, Watches, Warnings

Current Radar with Watches and Warnings

Latest Radar
Guide to Watches and Warnings
The radar map(s) above focus on the most likely areas for severe weather and/or flash flooding, if any. Maps update every five minutes; refresh this page for the latest image.
For radar and watch/warning information in other areas of the country, click on the links below.
(MORE: View National Interactive Radar Map | Difference Between a Watch and a Warning)

Storm Reports this Week

Thursday: 
Tree damagee near Culloden, Alabama may have been caused by a tornado in the morning. Further west, an isolated supercell caused a tornado in El Dorado County, California during the afternoon. Multiple videos shared over social media showed a relatively small tornado in the vicinity of Folsom Lake. Spotty, minor damage was reported from that tornado.
Wednesday:
The first in a series of tornadoes across Mississippi and Tennessee struck the area near and immediately east of Clarksdale, Mississippi, shortly after 3 p.m. CST. Damage from an "exceptionally long-track, violent tornado" carved a path across most of northwestern Mississippi, extending into southwestern Tennessee, or a distance of greater than 100 miles. Storm survey results from the National Weather Service later this week will conclude if this damage was one from continuous tornado or multiple, shorter-lasting tornadoes.
Elsewhere, isolated tornadoes have been confirmed in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia. Michigan observed their first December tornado on record and a few other tornadoes were also reported in Arkansas and Illinois.

Tornado Reports
Strong, destructive tornadoes are not completely unusual for the Deep South in December. In fact, some particularly damaging tornadoes have occurred in December before.
(MORE: Deadliest December Tornadoes)
About 170 reports of wind damage have been received in a swath from southeast Oklahoma, eastward across the Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and Tennessee Valley, to as far north as southeastern Lower Michigan between 7 a.m EST Wednesday and 7 a.m. EST Thursday. The most significant wind-damage was in Sharp County, Arkansas, where several homes were reportedly destroyed. There have been multiple reports of large hail, mainly from eastern Arkansas into Kentucky, which have caused some damage to vehicles.
Tuesday:
There were no significant severe weather reports on Tuesday, however heavy rain did cause some flash flooding in parts of South Carolina, including around the Columbia area.
Monday:
The National Weather Service confirmed three EF1 tornadoes in southwest Louisiana on Monday.
There were reports of trees down near Calcasieu, Louisiana, along with power outages and one person injured in a camping trailer. South of Alexandria, Louisiana near Woodworth, winds during a thunderstorm damaged a car and trees were downed.

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(PHOTO/VIDEO GALLERIES: Severe | Storms)

PHOTOS: Severe Weather Dec. 23, 2015

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