Tennis ball-sized hail pelts Oklahoma as severe storms erupt over central U.S.
Damaging storms are endangering lives and property across a 1,000-mile swatch of the central United States as another severe weather outbreak erupts over the region.
All modes of severe weather will be possible into Tuesday night from Texas to Illinois, including wind gusts over to 65 mph, hail larger than golf balls and isolated tornadoes. This includes Dallas, Oklahoma City, St. Louis and some of the suburbs around Chicago.
The first tornado watch of the day was issued at 3:15 p.m. CDT, highlighting not only the risk for tornadoes, but also very large hail and intense wind gusts over part of the south-central U.S.
“Into the late-night hours on Tuesday, it is quite possible that thunderstorms congeal into a massive line of damaging, straight-line, wind-producing thunderstorms,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.
The focus of the storms will shift east heading into Wednesday, rumbling across much of the Southeast. Similar to Tuesday’s storms, damaging storms will have the potential to spawn tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds.
As of Sunday, there have been 492 tornadoes reported across the U.S., well above the average of 307. At this rate, 2020 is on pace to rank as one of the top years in terms of number of tornadoes.
