Severe Weather Threatens Thanksgiving Travelers
As about 73 million people hit the road for Thanksgiving, a line of thunderstorms swept through North Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas early Monday, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to Interstate 20 and Interstate 35.
Later Monday afternoon, more severe storms are anticipated to disrupt early Thanksgiving flights in these regions as the system shifts eastward. There’s a risk of flash flooding extending from Austin, Tennessee, to Nashville.
This weather front previously caused severe conditions in West Texas, with a supercell thunderstorm reported in Grand Falls on Sunday afternoon.
Supercells are particularly intense thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes.
Flight tracking service FlightAware noted that over 485 flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were delayed on Sunday.
A new round of thunderstorms is expected to roll through northern and eastern Texas by Monday afternoon, with the possibility of supercells forming again.
Drivers on Interstate 20 between Shreveport, Louisiana, and Alexandria, Louisiana, may experience the most significant impacts from the storms, as reported by the FOX Prediction Center.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center has issued a level 2 risk for severe thunderstorms affecting parts of eastern Texas, northern Louisiana, southern Arkansas, and eastern Mississippi.
While Houston remains just outside of this level 2 risk, strong storms are still a possibility on Monday afternoon.
Additionally, flood watches are in effect across North Texas, including the Dallas Metroplex, as these storms continue to inundate the same areas.
Most regions are forecasted to receive between 1 and 3 inches of rain by the end of Monday, according to the FOX Prediction Center.
The greatest threat of flooding is in the Ark-La-Tex area, where NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center has identified a level 2 out of 4 flash flood risk for cities like Dallas, Shreveport, Little Rock, Jackson, and Memphis.
As the storm progressed eastward, travel conditions in Texas improved by Tuesday, with the heaviest rainfall now affecting parts of Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, including at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, which is the busiest in the nation.
