While a massive winter storm plunges much of the country into a deep freeze of ice and snow, the same system threatens the Deep South with a new hazard — severe thunderstorms. A line of thunderstorms is expected to organize Sunday morning across Louisiana and Mississippi, just south of the icing zone, before pushing into Alabama and the Florida Panhandle around midday. By late afternoon, the severe threat will shift into southwest Georgia.
NEW ORLEANS – While a massive winter storm plunges much of the country into a deep freeze of ice and snow, the same system threatens nearly 10 million people across parts of the Deep South and Gulf Coast with a new hazard — severe thunderstorms.
The primary severe weather hazard will be wind gusts in excess of 60 mph, as well as a low-end tornado threat for parts of the Gulf Coast.
(FOX Weather)
NOAA‘S Storm Prediction Center has issued a Level 2 out of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms across a small chunk of the Gulf Coast including part of southeastern Mississippi, southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia.
LIVE UPDATES: DANGEROUS WINTER STORM BLASTING AMERICA WITH HEAVY SNOW AND CRIPPLING ICE
This includes the Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama, the Tallahassee, Florida and Albany, Georgia metro areas.
NOAA has issued a 5 percent probability of tornadoes for this same area.
A Level 1 threat covers New Orleans and Jackson, Mississippi.
(FOX Weather)
A line of thunderstorms is expected to organize Sunday morning across Louisiana and Mississippi, just south of the icing zone below the Interstate 20 corridor, before pushing into Alabama and the Florida Panhandle around midday.
By late afternoon, the severe threat will shift into southwest Georgia.
This graphic shows future radar.
(FOX Weather / FOX Weather)
This latest dimension of the already historic winter system is a result of Arctic air dipping farther south than initially expected — not so much at ground level, but a few thousand feet up.
This has allowed some places across the southern Plains, like Little Rock, Arkansas, to tally more snow than forecast.
Snow blankets Interstate 440 outside the Little Rock Airport early Saturday.
(ARDOT / FOX Weather)
However, the associated dip in the jet stream is drawing in more warm air from the Gulf—the clash between these air masses will set the stage for Sunday’s thunderstorms.
