Major update 3. Tornado warnings have been Posted for Terre Haute Indiana and now they are posted in the western suburbs of Indianapolis. Chicago has a severe thunderstorm warning but no tornado warnings. Flood warnings are up across the midwest. Flash flooding is a major killer. Don't even think about driving through flooded areas at night even if the storm has gone by.
Major update 2. A tornado was sighted near Hot Springs and the storm that caused it is headed towards Little Rock. A tornado warning has been issued for Little Rock Arkansas. Little Rock news reports that the storm that had the sighted tornado is headed towards downtown Little Rock.
Major Update 1: Tornado warnings issued for St Louis, suburbs and exurbs. This is getting ugly.
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Tornado watches and warnings have been issued from Texas to Illinois along a rapidly intensifying line of severe thunderstorms that crosses Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. A tornado was reported on the ground in Bowling Green Missouri.
This tornado, sighted over Bowling Green, did minor damage.
Photo, public submission to TV station by viewer Bradley Francis.
A tornado is now reported on the ground from the same thunderstorm.
AT 620 PM CDT...TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR KINCAID...OR 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF TAYLORVILLE. DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED THIS TORNADO MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH.
Severe thunderstorms are now approaching St. Louis.
The line of severe thunderstorms is bright white in the middle of the continent.
A tornado producing thunderstorm has tracked from west of St. Louis to northeast of St. Louis. The extent of damage is not known yet, but the storm has had a long track. First reports said the town of Bowling Green Mo was hit but suffered little damage. More recent reports say a tornado was spotted on the ground but are too recent to report damage.
An intensifying low pressure area, now centered in Illinois, with a large swath of warm, humid air south of strong warm front is setting the stage for the outbreak of severe storms and tornadoes ahead of the approaching cold front.
Conditions are ripe for the development of more severe storms including more tornadoes. One of the weather services experimental indices for predicting tornadoes indicates that severe storms may extend into southern Indiana later tonight.
UPDATE 4
Now the severe weather is moving towards Memphis, TN
The wedge of warm humid air makes Memphis the next major city likely to be affected by this severe storm outbreak.
The red boxes are tornado warnings.
Update 5
The risk of tornadoes extends from south western Ohio through Kentucky and Tennessee to Mississippi and back to Louisiana at 10:30 Central daylight time. The fixed layer tornado index of the weather service shows where the severe storms are likely to appear next.
Updated by FishOutofWater at Tue Apr 19, 2011 at 08:08 PM EDT
634 PM CDT TUE APR 19 2011
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LITTLE ROCK HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR... NORTHERN POLK COUNTY IN WESTERN ARKANSAS...
* UNTIL 730 PM CDT
* AT 630 PM CDT...STORM SPOTTERS AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WERE TRACKING A LARGE AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED 17 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MOUNTAIN FORK...OR 27 MILES WEST OF MENA. DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED THIS SEVERE STORM MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH. THIS STORM HAS PRODUCED A TORNADO NEAR OCTAVIA IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA.
Updated by FishOutofWater at Tue Apr 19, 2011 at 08:17 PM EDT
Tornado near Mena Arkansas as shown by Tulsa radar. This is a large tornado with a long track headed northeast from the Oklahoma border towards central Arkansas.