Thunderstorms may hinder tornado recovery efforts from Kentucky to Arkansas

Ryan Adamson
·2 min read

Tornado-ravaged areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas were spared from a robust severe weather event on Wednesday that resulted in hundreds of wind damage reports and nearly two dozen tornadoes from the Upper Midwest to central Plains. Although no further widespread severe weather is expected in the coming days, the weather will pose some unwanted disruptions.

Since the devastating tornado outbreak of late last week, dry and mostly comfortable weather has been present across western Kentucky and Tennessee, southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas. This has allowed storm survey crews to conduct damage assessments and families and first responders to begin the arduous cleanup and rebuilding process.

However, rain and thunderstorms will be a hindrance to cleanup efforts beginning prior to the end of this week.

A storm will move slowly along a front that has stalled from the middle Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley into early Saturday. As moisture from the Gulf of Mexico overruns this frontal zone, pockets of heavy rain and thunderstorms will continue to develop and repeat from northeastern Oklahoma to northern Kentucky.

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Rainfall could be significant enough in this zone to lead to a few incidents of urban flooding, especially in areas where debris from the severe weather outbreak is blocking storm drains.

In a few cases, thunderstorms can become strong enough to produce gusty winds that can lead to sporadic power outages in areas that were hit by tornadoes last Friday night and surrounding areas as well.

Through Saturday, a widespread 2-4 inches of rain is expected from western Kentucky through northeastern Arkansas. Even areas that avoided last week's tornadoes, as far to the southwest as northeastern Texas, could receive similar amounts of rain. An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 9 inches will be possible in some areas.

The low pressure will continue to move along the front. But, it won't be until Saturday when the storm moves into the Northeast and allows the front to depart the region.

Following this rain, a prolonged stretch of dry weather is forecast from Sunday through at least Wednesday. Sunday and Monday will be chilly, however, before a warming trend begins on Tuesday.

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