WHAT: A strong storm or two
WHEN: After midnight
WHERE: The entire plateau
MAIN THREAT: Small hail and gusty winds
I thought I would give a quick update on storms we may see overnight. The 7:00 pm update from the Storm Prediction Center keeps the Cumberland Plateau in the marginal risk for severe storms tonight. That is the lowest of the five severe weather risk categories. It implies that a storm or two could be on the stronger side.
Currently, tornado watches are in effect for portions of western Kentucky and West Tennessee (yellow-shaded counties). We are NOT expecting storms to be that severe here tonight. In fact, the Storm Prediction Center has a zero chance for tornadoes here, as they should. Things are much warmer and more unstable within and around the tornado watch than they are here. For instance, Memphis is 67 degrees at this hour, while Crossville is 49 degrees.
The main threat we would face is gusty winds and some small hail. In other words, perhaps a storm or two could still be on the strong side when it gets here. Temps decrease rapidly with height right now and that could lead to some small hail in the stronger storms.
Our temps will stay around 50 overnight. That warm front you see draped across the state on the radar above will keep us on the warmer side of things and keep temps from dropping too much.