Good Friday everyone and thanks for dropping in on the blog. The signs are all pointing toward a possible significant severe weather outbreak across the state Saturday into Saturday night. The setup is actually one that could become memorable for parts of the Mississippi River Valley into the lower Ohio Valley.

This storm has already produced the most active weather day of the spring on Thursday and the severe weather hits will come fast and furious once again today for areas just to our west. For us… today will see a warm front swinging northward through the region with scattered showers and thunderstorms firing along this front. You can track today’s action here…

As mentioned… the thrust of the severe weather will be to our west today. Here is the latest on today’s severe threat from the Storm Prediction Center…

SPC Products Overview

Scattered showers and thunderstorms will continue around here tonight into very early Saturday. Heavy rains will be possible from these storms and there is a low risk that a few of these could become strong or severe.

Skies will try to clear out for a while Saturday ahead of low pressure developing to our southwest. The more sun we can get into… the higher the threat for a significant severe weather outbreak will be later in the day as our instability increases. The low to our southwest will RAPIDLY strengthen as it rolls northeastward across the western Ohio Valley. A major outbreak of severe weather is very possible along and just ahead of the track of this low. Here is a map to better illustrate the track…

Clusters thunderstorms will develop across the lower Mississippi Valley and ride northeastward into the area by later Saturday into Saturday evening. I have highlighted the area most at risk for severe weather…

Damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes will be possible in the area under the threat. The highest risk is the area I expect to experience the brunt of the severe weather. As a matter of fact… some areas within the highest risk have the potential to see the development of strong tornadoes!

In addition to the possible severe weather… torrential rains will be likely for for much of the risk area and this may lead to some flash flooding concerns. This will have to be watched very closely as well as some of the models are spitting out a tremendous amount of rain in a short amount of time for some.

This will be a weekend to make sure you are locked in on the severe weather threat and this blog will keep you updated as always. I will update things later today so make sure you check back. Have a great Friday and take care.