For the second time in four days, a widespread severe weather threat with strong tornadoes is expected to impact some 48 million people across more than a dozen states from the Midwest to the South on Tuesday.
Some of the areas facing this next threat of severe storms and tornadoes include those that were just struck by a deadly multi-state tornado outbreak on Friday.
Tuesday’s severe weather will be associated with the same storm system that will also spawn an early-April blizzard across parts of the northern Plains and Upper Midwest early this week.
The weather pattern responsible for Tuesday’s severe thunderstorms is nearly identical to the one that brought deadly tornadoes to the central U.S. on Friday. This includes a potent upper-level jet stream disturbance pivoting in the Plains and Mississippi Valley, providing wind shear – the change in wind speed and direction with height – that will overlap with moisture streaming north from the Gulf of Mexico into the Midwest and South.
Severe thunderstorms are expected to develop from late Tuesday afternoon into Tuesday night across the lower Missouri Valley and southern portions of the Upper Midwest, as well as from parts of the southeastern Plains states into portions of the mid-South.
These storms will pose a risk of tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind gusts. A few tornadoes could be EF-2 or stronger on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
Tuesday’s dangerous severe weather threat includes Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City in Missouri, Little Rock in Arkansas and Tulsa in Oklahoma.
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Another round of severe weather is possible Wednesday as the storm system slides east into the Ohio Valley and eastern Great Lakes.
Damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes are the main threats in those regions.
Detroit, Cleveland and Columbus in Ohio, Pittsburgh and Buffalo in New York are among the cities in Wednesday’s severe thunderstorm risk.
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Make sure that you have multiple ways to receive weather alerts reliably. The FOX Weather app can send you alerts based on your location and also has great information about how to create a severe weather safety plan.