Severe storms triggered tornado watches and warnings in Texas and Oklahoma Saturday night and produced baseball-sized hail across an area stretching from the South to the Northeast.
Among reported but unconfirmed Texas tornadoes on Saturday were vortexes sighted in Jacksboro and Sterling City before nightfall. NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reported a vortex moving late Saturday near Weatherford. It showed signs of well-developed tornadic circulation, said the station’s chief meteorologist, Rick Mitchell.
"There does not appear to be any significant storm damage within the city limits," but that could change under daylight, Weatherford spokesperson Amy Borders said.
The federal storm prediction center said that three supercells, which can produce powerful tornadoes, were reported in North Texas.
The supercells, defined by a deep updraft and well-organized, circular motion known to spawn tornadoes and potent thunderstorms, were poised to merge with a boundary between cold air and warm that could result in a "brief uptick in tornado potential" overnight, the federal Storm Prediction Center said.
"Severe gusts will also be a concern," the center said.
Late Saturday, the weather service also issued a tornado watch, which advises that conditions exist for tornadoes, for a diagonal area from greater Dallas-Fort Worth to the southwest to a portion of Oklahoma under Tulsa moving northeast and as far as Fayetteville, Arkansas, through 7 a.m. Sunday.
Around24million people were at risk from Texas to Ohio on Saturday, including in Dallas, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. The main threats Saturday were large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes. Storms Saturday night in the Ohio Valley and Interior Northeast were expected to be capable of producing localized 60 mph wind gusts and quarter-sized hail.
The “nearly stationary” spring weather system brought multiple tornado watches and warnings to North Central Texas and southern Oklahoma on Saturday evening, according to the National Weather Service.
The system, a clash of cool and warm air that’s headed for northern Missouri and the Upper Great Lakes, is already blamed for more than 70 reports of baseball-sized hail in southern Wisconsin.
In social media imagery verified by NBC News, a vortex was also seen in the sky in Southwest Iowa on Friday. The weather service usually doesn't confirm tornadoes until the next day, when trained spotters fan out to survey possible tracks and damage.
A long line of showers and thunderstorms was continuingovernight in the region stretching from Texas to the Northeast. There is an enhanced risk of storms over parts of West Texas, including Abilene and San Angelo, where the risk is highest for very large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes.
Storms will be capable of producing golf ball-sized hail, 2 to 3 inches of rain, 70 mph wind gusts and possible tornadoes were predicted as a possibility for the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
Travel disruptions started Saturday morning at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, with 52 cancelations and 531 delays, according to FlightAware.com.
More than 13,000 utility customers in Texas were without power late Saturday, according to PowerOutage.us.
Around 11 million people are under Flood Alerts through Sunday from Texas to Illinois, including St Louis, Missouri; Springfield, Ohio; Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Storm totals ranging from 3 to 5 inches, with up to 7 inches were possible in some areas.
On Easter Sunday, 11million people are at risk for thunderstorms from east Texas to Illinois, including in St. Louis; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Shreveport, Louisiana. Tornado activity is possible, with the greatest risk for tornadoes and damaging winds over Missouri and into western Illinois.
This weather pattern will also create a divide well above and well below average temperatures through the weekend. Highs in the Rockies, Plains and Southwest will drop 10 to 30 degrees below average, with temperatures maxing out in the 40s to 70s.
Meanwhile, from the South to the Northeast, highs will soar 10 to 20 degrees above average, with temperatures maxing out in the 70s to 90s. A few record highs will be threatened this afternoon in Tampa, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Highs will stay about 10 to 15 degrees above average across the Southeast through Sunday and into early next week.
