Dangerous severe storms will sweep across the eastern half of the U.S. this Memorial Day Weekend, impacting a number of major cities from Saturday to Monday.
The storms will start Saturday, with 18 million people from Texas to Iowa under a high threat of severe storms, the strongest of which will hit Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, including Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Joplin and Wichita.
Discrete thunderstorms are expected to form over Oklahoma and Texas by 6:00-8:00 p.m. ET and will push east into Missouri and Iowa overnight.
Also overnight, a few long-lived supercells are expected. These storms are capable of producing intense tornadoes, giant hail and destructive wind gusts.
The storms will continue to push east on Sunday, moving into the Midwest and Ohio Valley. They are expected to impact 42 million in cities such as Chicago, Indianapolis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati.
Damaging wind gusts are most expected across the Midwest, but tornadoes and large hail are also possibilities.
The storms will finish off on the East Coast on Monday, with a slight risk of severe weather issued to the Mid-Atlantic. In this region, including Baltimore, D.C., Charlotte and Raleigh, 27 million are at risk of experiencing strong to severe thunderstorms.
The primary hazard to watch out for here is severe wind, but a storm or two could be capable of producing large hail or a tornado.
With this active storm pattern comes the risk of flash flooding, in this case, especially across the Mid-Mississippi Valley. In total, three million are under flood alerts including cities such as Memphis and Tupelo.
Rainfall totals will generally range from 1-2.5″ through the weekend with localized higher amounts of 3″+ possible where training storms develop.
Southern heat
While the south won’t be facing thunderstorms Memorial Day Weekend, it will be facing extreme heat.
Summer-like temperatures will affect the Southern Plains and the Gulf Coast as highs soar to 10-20 degrees above average.
Heat alerts are in effect for seven million across Southern Texas Saturday, including Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Brownsville as temperatures will climb as high as 100-115 degrees.
Nearly two dozen record highs will be threatened Saturday afternoon as highs reach into the 90-100s degrees in Brownsville, Key West, New Orleans and Houston.
On Sunday, more heat will cover the South, with more than 20 record highs threatened in Corpus Christi, Miami, Orlando, Baton Rouge, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
Extreme fire conditions
Four million are under alerts for critical fire weather conditions across the High and Southern Plains from Colorado to Texas, including Albuquerque, Santa Fe and El Paso.
Newly formed fires are at the risk of rapidly spreading due to the dangerous combination of dry vegetation, 30-45 mph winds and low relative humidity.