Tornado Watches issued as heartland braces for renewed severe weather threat after deadly tornadoes

Tornadoes expected to tear across mid-South again Friday

Millions across the Mississippi and Ohio valleys are bracing for another round of severe weather after deadly storms ripped across the regions earlier this week.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The FOX Forecast Center is tracking another heightened threat of severe weather Friday that will initially focus on the Texarkana region before the threat of hazardous weather expands to the Mississippi and Tennessee valleys.

Communities such as Little Rock, Jonesboro and Fort Smith in Arkansas are all in the enhanced to moderate risk zone for severe storms. The general thunderstorm threat zone extends for hundreds of miles, placing over 55 million under the gun.

WHY IS THIS RELENTLESS SEVERE WEATHER PATTERN STUCK OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE US?

The Storm Prediction Center issued Tornado Watches for portions of nine states that include: Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi until after sunset.

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The thunderstorms are expected to develop due to a stalled weather pattern — the same one that has produced significant and deadly severe weather for the Mississippi and Ohio valleys over the past few days. At least eight people have died across four states this week as a result of severe weather and flooding.

HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER

The Storm Prediction Center received nearly 700 reports of severe weather from Wednesday’s storms, making it the most active weather day since 2011.

Dangerous storms expected through weekend

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With the renewed threat of hail, damaging winds and strong tornadoes possibly rated EF-2 or higher, expect the SPC to be busy again issuing severe weather watch boxes by late Friday evening and into the early hours of Saturday. 

HOW ARE TORNADOES RATED?

Debris scattered everywhere after tornado hits Kentucky

Absolute devastation hit the town of Jeffersontown, Kentucky after a tornado hit the town. 

These watches will likely start west of the Mississippi River and move eastward across the mid-South, but the exact location of severe thunderstorm development will depend on the location of frontal boundaries. Those boundaries help focus the greatest ingredients for supercells.

WHAT IS A SUPERCELL?

A look at the tornado potential.on Friday.

(FOX Weather)

Life-threatening flooding also expected

The repeated storms along the slow-moving front will also cause a high flash flood risk, especially in western Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas. Rainfall totals could reach over 5-8 inches in some areas, with local amounts of more than a foot possible.

WHY HIGH-RISK FLOOD DAYS ARE SO SERIOUS

A look at the rainfall still to come through Sunday.

(FOX Weather)

High-pressure ridges along the Eastern Seaboard, which have kept the storm systems locked in place, are finally expected to weaken toward the end of the weekend and into next week.

This shift will allow drier, less humid air to move in and end the wet and muggy weather that has plagued the region. 

While the prospect of drier weather is welcome news, the floodwaters will not recede quickly. River levels will remain high for the foreseeable future, and if a wet weather pattern returns, any additional rainfall could be problematic.

How Lake City, Arkansas is racing against the clock to clean up

FOX Weather's Robert Ray is in Northeast Arkansas, which was recently impacted by an EF3 tornado.