Texas, Kansas, New Mexico under tornado threat, large hail and heavy rain expected. What to know

Deadly storms have left a trail of destruction across the central US, but the danger is far from over. Severe weather is still brewing, with forecasters warning that more hazardous storms are heading towards the south. These storms are likely to bring large hail, heavy rain, and lead to potential tornadoes

A severe thunderstorm system is expected to activate on April 22 across northeastern Kansas and Texas while penetrating New Mexico. AccuWeather warnings reported that more dangerous storms containing baseball-sized hail, torrential rainfalls, and individual tornadoes are also predicted. The areas that are most affected are likely to experience destruction of houses, combined with automobiles and agricultural fields.

This weather system could in fact pass across the southern US over a long period of time, spanning through the entire week, with the development of more intense weather conditions. The Mississippi and Ohio valleys are expected to experience heavy rainfall by April 25. Areas that have not dried up after recent heavy rainfalls could face flash flooding too.

Flash flood threat in other areas

Heavy showers during the first week of April brought up to 16 inches of rain in four days to parts of the mid-Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys, Accuweather reported. Some of the small streams and secondary rivers have since receded, but the main surge of water is still moving downstream on the lower Mississippi River. Moderate to major flooding continues in this area.

The Mississippi River has recently crested, or is expected to soon crest, along the shores of Tennessee, Arkansas and northern Mississippi. However, a crest around Baton Rouge is not predicted to happen until the end of the month.

Areas west of the Mississippi River experienced heavy rain over the Easter holiday weekend. This pushed some rivers in the southern and central Plains above flood stage. The secondary surge, expected to cycle down the Mississippi in the following weeks, will possibly bring lower water levels than the first surge.

Several downpours into Friday are expected to be poorly organised because of the storm systems’ weak nature, which has been drifting west to east from the Plains to the Atlantic coast or the Great Lakes. Meanwhile, moisture from the Gulf can cause even non-severe thunderstorms to drop torrential downpours over localised areas from the central and southern Plains to parts of the Ohio Valley and Atlantic Seaboard. This could trigger urban and small stream flooding in certain cases.

Over three to four days, the cumulative rainfall is expected to peak under 6 inches in the wettest spots. There will also be breaks in the rain. Therefore, most of the rivers in the region should be able to tackle the runoff with not much impact.