Unseasonably mild winter weather may lead to spring-like storms. All hazards will be possible on Wednesday, including the risk for a tornado. We will need to be weather-aware, especially after noon.
WHAT: Strong to severe thunderstorms
WHEN: Wednesday afternoon and evening (Noon – 9:00 pm)
MAIN HAZARDS: Damaging straight-line winds and an isolated tornado.
The data for tomorrow continues to point to a risk for severe storms. At this time, that risk looks greater for Cumberland, Putnam, and White Counties than it does for Overton, Fentress, Morgan and Scott. In other words, the northern end of the plateau may fare better than the southern end with this event. With that being said, we should ALL stay weather-aware on Wednesday across the Cumberland Plateau. All modes of severe weather are possible.
My level of concern is unchanged from this morning.
The National Weather Service in Morristown issued this graphic today, showing the greatest risk for a tornado. Again, while the circled area is at a greater risk, any of us are at a risk for damaging winds or even a tornado in Wednesday’s storms.
A strong jet stream, unseasonably warm temps, and winds that change with height could all combine to create severe storms for Wednesday. I should also mention that the risk for locally heavy rainfall is also a threat.
I’ll be issuing a special recording around 9:00 pm over on Youtube. You can find my channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz3zLMT7tqpb6eIaE-8YGog. Feel free to subscribe to that channel for free! You can also find a newly-recorded video by me there for setting up the Midland NOAA weather radio!
You can find the weather radio link to this page at
As always, you can find all kinds of severe weather safety tips at
Keep in mind that you may hear a rumble of thunder tonight. Any of that activity should remain non-severe.
Make sure you’re following the blog and/or have the Android app to get all the latest updates sent to your phone. Plus, you can follow me on Twitter (@meteo_mark).
We also have a risk for severe storms on Saturday that I’ll be talking about in future posts and on Youtube this evening.
I’ll have a full blog update out in the morning and I’ll be tracking it all tomorrow!
You all take care! I’ll have the Youtube update out around 9:00 p.m.
