NEW ORLEANS – Spring breakers hoping to catch some time at beaches along the Gulf Coast and in the Southeast may have to dodge some nasty weather this week as a multiday severe weather threat looms in cities across the region from New Orleans to Miami.
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The severe weather threat is lower on Tuesday and Wednesday, but about 27 million people from East Texas to about the Mobile, Alabama area, as well as Central and South Florida, are in a Level 1 out of 5 risk on NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center’s (SPC) 5-point severe thunderstorm risk scale.
Tuesday’s threat includes cities from New Orleans to Little Rock in Arkansas, as well as cities in Florida like Orlando, Melbourne, Tampa, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
The risk of severe weather will remain in Florida on Wednesday.
The main threats from thunderstorms that develop will be large hail and damaging wind gusts. However, there is now a risk of tornadoes across the Florida Peninsula on Tuesday night.
Rounds of rain will also drench parts of the South and Southeast through the end of the week.
“In fact, the rain that we’re expecting for round two is a lot more juicy,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said.
Only a few inches of rain is expected from the first round, but forecasters are keeping their eyes on the second round.
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“There’s a lot more moisture in the atmosphere,” Merwin continued. “So, we’re going to see a more aggressive amount of rain.”
Widespread rain totals between 2 and 3 inches are expected from Mississippi to the Carolinas, but higher amounts between 3 and 5 inches or more are possible in parts of Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.
Flash flooding is a concern in the South and Southeast through Wednesday, with cities such as New Orleans, Birmingham and Montgomery in Alabama, Atlanta and Valdosta in Georgia and communities along the Florida Panhandle facing the greatest risk.
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The FOX Forecast Center said it was continuing to watch areas of the South for a potentially more potent severe weather threat as we get into Thursday and Friday.
Computer forecast models need to continue to come into agreement with timing and more specifics about the threat, but the FOX Forecast Center believes there is the possibility of multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms, including a higher risk of tornadoes.
The threat on Thursday appears to be focused on parts of Texas and Louisiana and then shifts farther east into Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle on Friday.
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As of Tuesday, the severe weather threat on Thursday appears to be highest across portions of Central and North Texas, as well as into parts of southwestern Oklahoma.
This includes the cities of Wichita Falls, Dallas, Waco and Austin in Texas. Other Lone Star State cities that could see severe weather include San Antonio and Lufkin.
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A wider area of real estate will be at risk of severe weather on Friday, including some popular beaches along the Gulf Coast.
The severe weather threat will stretch from East Texas to the Florida Panhandle.
Major cities included in the threat are Shreveport, Alexandria, Lake Charles and New Orleans in Louisiana, Jackson and Hattiesburg in Mississippi, Moblie in Alabama, and Panama City in Florida.