A volatile weather system is poised to unleash severe thunderstorms across the central United States on Sunday, with the potential for tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds.
Roughly 170 million people from Illinois to eastern Texas and beyond could be affected over the next two days, as unseasonably warm air collides with a powerful cold front.
March has already delivered an extraordinary number of tornado reports, surpassing the number from the same time last year. Some of the same regions struck by deadly storms earlier this month could once again find
Sunday’s threat: golf ball-sized hail and long-lived tornadoes
Weekend temperatures from the Plains to the East Coast have felt more like late May or early June, but a cold front coming in Sunday will bring an abrupt end to the unseasonable warmth. As that cooler air collides with the warm, moisture-laden air ahead of it, explosive thunderstorms are expected to erupt.
The Storm Prediction Center has placed more than 25 million people under a level 3 of 5 risk for severe weather on Sunday, including major cities such as Nashville, Indianapolis and St. Louis. Another 40 million people outside that are under a level 2 of 5 risk, encompassing areas that include Dallas, Chicago and Cleveland.
Storms will span most of the East Coast Monday
The severe weather threat will spill into Monday as powerful thunderstorms continue to sweep eastward from the Appalachians to Louisiana and Mississippi during the morning hours. While some storms may briefly weaken with the morning light, they are expected to regain strength by the afternoon.
By Monday evening, the severe weather threat will span nearly the entire East Coast, placing nearly 100 million people at risk. Cities from New Orleans to Boston fall within the affected zone, though the specific threats will vary.
The Northeast’s primary threat will be damaging wind gusts. A huge swath of the South, from the mid-Atlantic to the Gulf Coast, will face the full spectrum of severe weather hazards, including hail, tornadoes and strong winds.
The storms are expected to linger overnight from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast before moving into the Atlantic Ocean by Tuesday morning.
A historic March for tornado activity
This year has already seen an extraordinary number of tornadoes, with approximately 300 tornado reports logged since January, nearly double the 164 reported by this time last year. Since 2010, only three years — 2023, 2017 and 2013 —have recorded more tornadoes in the first three months of the year.
