Breakfast Brief - Spring storm brings flood, severe threat

Breakfast Brief
Spring storm brings flood, severe threat

In typical spring fashion, warm and cold air masses are colliding, bringing everything but the kitchen sink to the U.S. Snow, flooding rains, severe storms and record heat roll out on Wednesday. The Breakfast Brief is published Monday through Friday at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

The same storm system that began bringing severe weather to the central and southern Plains overnight is shifting east. The WeatherRadar shows that on the northern flank, snow, ice and rain will extend along the northern tier from the High Plains to the Upper Great Lakes and Northeast.

On the southern, warmer flank of the storm, severe weather is forecast for many of the same spots that saw damaging gusts, hail and tornadoes on Sunday into Monday morning. While at least isolated tornadoes are possible from eastern Texas to the lower Great Lakes, the area with the best chance for multiple tornadoes stretches from southern Arkansas to Cincinnati.

Have at least three ways to receive weather warnings and have your app alert switched on for the latest information. The active weather begins before the sun rises and lasts well into the overnight, posing the threat of nocturnal severe weather. Make sure your notifications volume is turned up on your device in case you are asleep.

Helping to fuel this spring storm is above-average heat across the Deep South and Gulf Coast. The TemperatureRadar shows highs reaching up to the mid-to-upper 80s on Wednesday and as much as 15 degrees above average for this time of year.

Coming with this large storm system is very heavy rainfall, which marks the first day of widespread and possibly significant flooding issues from the Ozarks to the Ohio Valley. A multi-day rain event is setting up, and by the time this weekend rolls around, we could see rain totals surpassing 15 inches from northern Arkansas to southern Indiana.

To the West, more rain and snow will be scattered across the WeatherRadar. The Sierras will get a little bit of a break after having major impacts on Tuesday due to heavy snow. However, those headed across the passes will still want to monitor the WeatherRadar.