Mid-South Meteorology: Tornado Watch Until 9PM

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A Tornado Watch has been issued for the region until 9PM. Here's the text of the Watch from the NWS.

We're expecting the storms in NE Arkansas to continue moving closer, ahead of the cold front and the interaction with the plume of moist air, and the strong wind fields trigger potential severe storms and perhaps a few tornadoes.

Here's a look at a couple of models, showing the development of the squall line late this afternoon.

Timing: Storms are firing up later this afternoon, and evening along and ahead of a squall line, and moving rapidly eastward.

Severe Storms: We expect a squall line to develop ahead of a cold front, which could have some embedded, tornadoes, along with damaging winds. The main concern is damaging winds, however, with the amount of wind shear expected, tornadoes are certainly a threat.

Localized Flooding: We could see a half inch to an inch of rainfall on already saturated ground, which could cause some runoff which could produce some localized flooding.

Trees Down: With the ground so saturated, and high winds expected with this system, we could see a higher than you would expect, number of trees to be blown down by the storm system. We expect winds 15-25 mph throughout the day into the evening with gusts to around 45 mph, and even higher gusts possible in the storms!

*What you should do Today/Tonight: Stay in touch with the latest weather conditions. Be prepared to go to a safe place and have your emergency plan ready should threatening weather approach. Make sure your cellphone is charged and the batteries in your weather radio are charged.

Stay with us for the latest information and forecast updates! Remember, when the power's out, you can still hear our forecasts and live reports on Newstalk 94.7, 95.5, 570AM and 1320AM, along with The Mix 94.7 and Willie 102.1. Make sure you have a battery powered radio!