Severe Weather Outbreak - Channelle Oleski

Severe Weather Outbreak Ahead
 http://www.weather.com/news/weather-severe/severe-weather-tracker


The threat of severe thunderstorms is about to return as a strong cold front emerges from the Rockies and intercepts milder air returning to the nation's midsection.
(LIVE UPDATES:  Severe Weather Outbreak)

Wednesday Forecast

This pattern will be favorable for thunderstorms to produce damaging winds and possible tornadoes Tuesday and Wednesday in parts of the South, lower Midwest, and eventually the Mid-Atlantic region.
The maps on this page show the latest timing forecast for these storms from The Weather Channel's Global Forecast Center.
(LIVE: Interactive Radar, Alerts for Threat Zone)

Key Ingredient: Powerful Winds

One of our biggest concerns is the amount of wind energy carried by this large-scale storm system.
Jet stream winds are forecast to easily exceed 150 miles per hour with this system. But more alarmingly, the winds in the lower atmosphere are also expected to be fierce - with the potential for southerly winds of 90 to 105 miles per hour just 5,000 feet above the ground in some areas just ahead of the cold front.
That combination of powerful wind energy and an unstable atmosphere - even an only weakly unstable one as we often see in January - may lead to widespread straight-line wind damage along with the potential for a few tornadoes.