Jeff Martin
Atlanta (AP) – U.S. government forecasters are using a relatively rare “high-risk” name (the highest category they use) to warn that a tornado outbreak of about 2.5 million people could occur on Wednesday.
The most disastrous weather risks in the area on Wednesday include parts of West Tennessee, including Memphis; northeast Arkansas; southeastern corner of Missouri; and parts of western Kentucky and southern Illinois.
“Multiple long-distance EF3+ tornados seem likely,” said Norman, Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center. Tornados of this size are the strongest on the enhanced Fujita scale to evaluate their intensity.
Historically, the “high risk” name was rarely used, but it did appear a few weeks ago to warn of a deadly tornado outbreak in mid-March.
Magenta marks the highest risk area
The Storm Prediction Center uses five categories to warn of expected bad weather, from edge to high. Its prediction graph is color-coded, with the lowest risk area and the highest risk area displayed by magenta.
The agency said the “high risk” name is used when severe weather is expected to include “a large number of strong, prolonged tornadoes” or thunderstorms that produce hurricane wind gusts and cause extensive damage.
In many days in recent years, the predictions have become reality.
Tornado outbreak in Kansas and Oklahoma in 2024
On May 6, 2024, the Storm Prediction Center allocated high-risk categories to parts of Kansas and Oklahoma, warning of “multiple important tornadoes along the potentially long paths.”
Prediction is prescient, with dozens of tornadoes digging the landscape. One of the most powerful twists was the tear-up in the small town of Barnesdore, Oklahoma, and then raided the large Bartelsville community.
Aerial video shows many houses being reduced to rubble. The town mayor said at the time that about 25 people were rescued from collapsed buildings or surrounding houses.
2023 Mississippi Valley Tornado
On March 31, 2023, the Storm Prediction Center outlined two areas along the Mississippi River Valley, with high tornado risks.
The forecast was released in the following hours, with the collapse of the theater's roof at a heavy metal concert in Illinois at an Arkansas heavy metal concert.
The roof collapsed at the Apollo Theatre in Belvedel, Illinois, killing one person and injuring more than twenty others. The local fire chief said about 260 people were on the site at that time.
The National Weather Service said a total of 146 tornadoes that broke out in 2023 were confirmed, making it the third largest tornado in the United States recorded. More than twenty people were killed and dozens of others were injured.
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