Crime & Safety
'Swarm' of Tornadoes Coming to Midwest Friday, AccuWeather Warns
But forecast from National Weather Service is benign.
AccuWeather.com reports tornadoes are forecast to swarm Friday through a very large and populated area of the nation, stretching from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and other states.
After a brief reprieve from severe weather today (Thursday, March 1), a storm system emerging from the Rockies late this afternoon will act as the trigger for another round of dangerous storms in portions of recently hard-hit states and others late tonight through Friday, AccuWeather says.
The Chicago-area arm of the National Weather Service isn't shouting any alarms, however. There are no weather warnings on the NWS site as of Thursday morning, and the forecast is almost friendly, other than rain on Friday and a 30 percent chance of snow on Saturday.
Tonight: A 30 percent chance of rain after midnight. Increasing clouds, with a low around 35. Calm wind becoming east between 5 and 10 mph.
Friday: Rain. High near 51. Calm wind becoming northwest between 5 and 10 mph. Winds could gust as high as 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Friday Night: A chance of rain before 9pm, then a chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28. West northwest wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
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Still, AccuWeather says Friday night conditions will be right for fighting, atmospherically speaking.
"In light of less than perfect atmospheric conditions in the tornado and severe weather outbreak Tuesday night and Wednesday, it seems this potential event may have many key ingredients coming together.
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"Warm, moist air will combine with strong winds aloft in such a way to generate powerful thunderstorms that may spawn tornadoes.
"The first storms are forecast to ignite near the Mississippi River late Friday morning into Friday afternoon and push eastward into the evening hours across the Ohio and Tennessee valley states."
It sounds like a lot of the angst will be south of here—Nashville, TN, Louisville, KY, Cincinnati, OH, and Indianapolis, IN.
"AccuWeather.com meteorologists are concerned that Friday's severe weather outbreak has the potential to be more substantial than the one that blasted through similar areas Tuesday night and Wednesday," the AccuWeather statement said. That included a tornado in Harrisburg, IL.
The midweek outbreak was responsible for 12 deaths and 30 tornado reports, AccuWeather said.
SOURCES: AccuWeather press release and the National Weather Service-Chicago
