Relentless spell of dangerous weather shifts east Tuesday, threatening more strong tornadoes

Nonstop severe weather that spawned dozens of tornadoes and killed 28 people in recent days is in its final stretch Tuesday, but millions in the eastern half of the United States are still in the path of dangerous storms.

More than 7 million people are at risk of strong tornadoes on Tuesday as severe weather shifts east toward parts of the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys. The threat includes areas already battered by this spring’s storms, like western Kentucky and western Tennessee.

Damaging wind gusts, hail and heavy rain are also possible in any storm on Tuesday, especially those expected to develop later in the afternoon in the Mississippi Valley and move east through the evening.

CNN

SYSTEM SPAWNING SUPERCELLS AND TORNADOES MOVE EAST (4aET)

A storm system producing supercells and tornadoes is moving east, including to areas recovering from deadly weekend weather. Source:CNN, KHBS, WLKY, WFIE, KMOV, SEE PREFONTS

Here’s the latest:

  • Deadly weather: Violent storms have killed at least 28 people in three states since Friday: 19 in Kentucky, seven in Missouri – including five in St. Louis – and two in Virginia. There have been at least 1,800 reports to the Storm Prediction Center of damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes in the days of storms since Wednesday.
  • Communities assess damage: Powerful storms slammed parts of the Plains and Mississippi Valley on Monday, with tornadoes reported in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Nebraska. At least five counties in Oklahoma sustained storm damage that ranged from downed trees and power lines to a destroyed fire station, but that number could rise as officials continue to assess the aftermath, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
  • Rare tornado emergencies: In line with extreme tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service, on Friday an EF4 tornado roared through Illinois’ Williamson County and injured at least seven people. Two extreme warnings on Sunday turned into “large and destructive” tornado emergencies in Greensburg and Plevna, Kansas.

Severe threat shifts east Tuesday

Millions of people in the eastern half of the US are at risk of severe thunderstorms on Tuesday as the storm system that spurred Monday’s damaging weather tracks east.

More than 13 million people – including in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee – are under a level 3-of-5 risk of severe thunderstorms, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

Some parts of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys could be hit by multiple rounds of storms. Storms lingering from Monday night that have lost some of their punch could intensify again later Tuesday morning as they stretch through both regions. These could bring a renewed threat of damaging wind gusts, hail and even tornadoes once they get their second wind.

The focus will shift back to the Mississippi Valley in the late afternoon, with a new round of storms – including some supercells – set to fire up there and track east through the evening.

Any supercells will bring the day’s highest risk of strong tornadoes – rated EF2 or higher – in the afternoon hours before most storms start to merge into unbroken lines in early evening. Lines of storms will pose more of a widespread damaging wind threat through the evening but could still spawn tornadoes.

Six straight days of damaging storms

Ferocious storms have carved through hundreds of miles of the US in recent days, generating more than 1,800 reports of damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes since Wednesday.

More than 100 of those reports were tornadoes. National Weather Service storm survey teams are still picking through extensive damage to determine exactly how many tornadoes tore through the central and eastern US since last week, but they’ve already found at least three EF3 tornadoes and one EF4.

The EF4 tornado tore through Williamson County in southern Illinois on Friday with 190 mph winds, injuring at least seven people as it damaged homes and obliterated trees.

An EF3 tornado rocked the St. Louis area Friday, according to the NWS, reaching its peak intensity with 152 mph winds as it stretched a mile wide over the north side of the city. The tornado killed at least five people and injured dozens, while also “damaging or destroying thousands of buildings.”

Storms also left vast destruction behind in Laurel County, Kentucky, with 17 deaths reported there over the weekend. The city of London, about 75 miles south of Lexington, was hit particularly hard.

Police in Corbin, south of London, were responding to mutual aid calls for tornado victims and described the devastation as overwhelming.

Sunday night saw tornadoes tear through Kansas, with authorities reporting significant damage to homes in the city of Plevna, roughly 60 miles from Wichita, and the small northwestern town of Grinnell.

Plevna was under a rare tornado emergency, the most extreme tornado warning, issued by the National Weather Service.

Grinnell endured a “large and extremely dangerous tornado” Sunday evening, according to the NWS. A preliminary rating put the tornado at EF2-strength, but that rating could rise as NWS survey crews continue surveying damage on Tuesday.

About 20 homes were destroyed in Grinnell, which is home to fewer than 300 people, according to Gove County Sheriff Shawn Mesch.

“Essentially the entire west of Grinnell was destroyed,” Mesch told CNN Monday. But despite the level of destruction, there have been no reports of injuries: “It’s insane that nobody was hurt,” he said.

The threats didn’t let up Monday, with dangerous storms stretching more than 500 miles from northern Texas to Nebraska in the afternoon hours.

The worst-case scenario tornado threat didn’t come to fruition, but storms still produced multiple dangerous tornadoes in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Nebraska.

At least five counties in Oklahoma were damaged by storms, according to the state’s emergency management. Pittsburg County, in eastern Oklahoma, was hit hard by a tornado in the evening.

Sheriff’s deputies, fire personnel, and emergency management services were assessing damage, authorities said Monday. They were also checking for individuals who may be injured or trapped, the sheriff’s office said on Facebook.

“Please avoid the areas damaged by the storm at this time as emergency services are in the area,” the agency said.