Dangerous, severe storms will batter the eastern half of the United States over Memorial Day weekend, affecting many major cities from Saturday into Monday.
The storms will begin on Saturday, with 18 million people from Texas to Iowa at risk of severe storms. The strongest storms will hit Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, including Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Joplin, Missouri; and Wichita, Kansas.
Isolated thunderstorms are expected to develop in Oklahoma and Texas between 6-8pm ET before moving eastward into Missouri and Iowa overnight.
Several long-lasting supercells are also expected to develop overnight. These storms could produce violent tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind gusts.
The storm is expected to continue moving eastward Sunday, moving into the Midwest and Ohio Valley, affecting 42 million people in cities including Chicago, Indianapolis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati.
Destructive wind gusts are most expected across the Midwest, but tornadoes and large hail are also possible.
The storm will finish off the East Coast on Monday, with some severe weather warned for the Mid-Atlantic, where 27 million people could see strong to severe thunderstorms in the region, including Baltimore, Washington DC, and Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina.
The main danger to watch out for is high winds, but one or two storms could produce large hail or tornadoes.
This active storm pattern is creating a risk of flash flooding, especially along the Middle Mississippi River. A total of 3 million people are under flood warnings, including cities like Memphis, Tennessee, and Tupelo, Mississippi.
Rainfall amounts over the weekend will generally range from 1 to 2.5 inches, but localized amounts of more than 3 inches are possible in areas where training storms occur.
Southern heat
The South won’t experience thunderstorms over Memorial Day weekend, but it will experience scorching heat.
High temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees above normal, with summer-like temperatures affecting the southern Plains and Gulf Coast.
Heat warnings have been issued for 7 million people across South Texas on Saturday, including Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Brownsville, where temperatures are expected to reach 100 to 115 degrees.
Nearly 20 record high temperatures are expected Saturday afternoon in Brownsville and Houston, Texas, Key West, Florida, and New Orleans, with temperatures reaching the 90s and 100 degrees.
It’s expected to get even hotter across the South on Sunday, with more than 20 temperature records at risk in Corpus Christi, Florida; Miami; Orlando; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Dallas; Houston; and San Antonio.
Extreme Fire Conditions
Four million people are under warning of dangerous fire weather conditions in the high country and southern plains from Colorado to Texas, including Albuquerque and Santa Fe in New Mexico and El Paso in Texas.
New fires are at risk of spreading quickly due to a dangerous combination of dry vegetation, winds of 30 to 45 mph and low relative humidity.
