WASHINGTON – A vast region of the southeastern United States, home to some 40 million people, is under a tornado and hail warning today, the National Weather Service said. (NWS).
“Severe and major weather events along with storms are expected today in the southern region of the country. It is likely that there will be tornadoes with hail and damaging winds in the southern Mississippi Valley, especially from northeastern Louisiana to central Mississippi,” the federal agency said.
“Some of these tornadoes will be strong and intense this afternoon and overnight,” the agency added.
Meteorologist Domenica Davis, of the Weather Channel, pointed out that these storms will occur in the late afternoon and could cause flooding from Shreveport in western Mississippi to Birmingham in Alabama and Knoxville in Tennessee.
In some places, according to the Weather Channel, hailstorms could throw chunks of ice nearly two inches in diameter.
NWS meteorologist Chad Entremont said severe storms are expected in the center from Mississippi with winds up to
“Currently, there is a moderate to high risk of tornadoes in the area of Jackson (Mississippi),” he added. “We can expect golf ball-sized hail with chances of rain and flooding.”
Severe weather, according to the Weather Channel, will continue overnight from the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts in the Gulf of Mexico, as far south as Ohio.
The authorities have recommended that the population ensure that they have several means of receiving information, including cell phones and applications that keep them informed of the reports of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Conditions conducive to the strongest storms will subside Wednesday, forecasters said, but they still warned isolated tornadoes and gales could occur from the Gulf Coast to Georgia and western South Carolina.