Late Update 8pm central time: 8 Million people in the Chicago metro area are under the gun for extreme winds and possible tornadoes:
Elsewhere in Illinois and south of Memphis, tornadoes on the ground continue to threaten thousands of people.
-End late update-
Two particularly dangerous situation tornado watches for the lower and upper Mississippi river valley regions were recently issued by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC). The SPC also issued its highest level alert — high risk of severe storms including strong long track tornadoes for those regions. This severe weather outbreak is developing just a week after a devastating long track F4 tornado killed 21 people in Mississippi and one in Alabama. President Joe Biden is touring the damage just as this severe weather outbreak is developing over the same region.
A number of tornado warnings have already been issued in Arkansas. These warnings may or may not indicate tornadoes on the ground. The warnings are based on radar signatures indicative of a possible tornado. If you live in the Mississippi river valley keep touch with your trusted local weather source such as weather radio. It will be impossible for people like me on the internet to keep track your local situation with a large scale severe weather outbreak like the one that is developing now.
Air traffic has been stopped at Chicago airports because of approaching storms. There are multiple tornado warnings in Iowa and it appears that at least one of these storms is a huge wedge tornado. This massive wedge tornado was located in Sigourney Iowa moving in the direction of Iowa City.
There are warnings from Texas to Illinois and the severe weather will continue to move eastwards as we head into the nighttime hours.
The severe weather risk this early spring has been enhanced by the combination of La Niña, the follow on effects of a sudden stratospheric warming, and warmer than normal waters in the Gulf of Mexico associated with climate change/ocean warming.