The National Weather Service is warning of risks including strong tornadoes, hurricane-force winds, and hail up to the size of baseballs as a potentially dangerous stretch of severe weather is expected to impact the area through Friday evening.
The threat begins Thursday with a slight risk for isolated storms developing in the late afternoon and evening. According to the National Weather Service in Paducah, confidence in storm formation is low, but any storms that do form could produce damaging winds over 60 mph, large hail, and isolated tornadoes. A second round of storms could arrive overnight, between 1-6 a.m. Friday.
Friday poses a more significant risk, with the NWS designating the region under a Moderate Risk (Level 4 out of 5) for severe weather. Forecasters said conditions will be very favorable for the development of severe storms, including the potential for tornadoes and widespread wind damage.
Forecasters said strong to severe storms could begin as early as midday Friday and continue through the evening, with multiple rounds of storms possible.
“Storms may initially form as individual supercells that would pose a higher risk for strong tornadoes and very large hail,” the NWS stated in a briefing Thursday. “They then would likely form into a line of storms posing a higher risk for strong damaging wind and tornadoes.”
The highest risk area includes western Kentucky, southern Illinois, southeast Missouri, and southwest Indiana, with Owensboro and Daviess County near the center of the expected impact zone.
