Powerful winds, large hail take aim at Southern Plains

Powerful winds, large hail take aim at Southern Plains


4 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Golf ball-sized hail and powerful winds are expected to roll through parts of the Southern Plains late Sunday, marking the latest round of turbulent weather across the Midwest and South, forecasters said.

The National Weather Service said the storms are forecast in parts of northern Texas and central Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Residents of western Arkansas will also be risk, but to a lesser degree.

Forecasters aren't ruling out tornadoes but expect the primary threats to be large hail and damaging wind gusts from thunderstorms in Oklahoma, said Patrick Marsh, the warning coordination meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

But thanks to the time of year, he said, the weather system could spare the region from a devastating storm because it lacks a key ingredient: moisture.

"It'll be interesting to see how the storms interact with lesser amounts of moisture," Marsh said Sunday. "If this system would have happened in May, the tornado threat may have been higher."

The new threat comes as residents in the Deep South cleared branches and worked to restore power from weekend storms.

A tornado destroyed four mobile homes and damaged others near Cato, Arkansas, late Friday night. In northwest Louisiana, sheriff's officials said a church was destroyed by an apparent tornado, though no injuries were reported.

As the storms moved east, they toppled trees and power lines in Mississippi and Louisiana.

___

Associated Press writers Jeff Martin in Atlanta and Jeff Amy in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this report.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photos

Most recent U.S. stories

Related topics

U.S.
JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast