Tornado Threat Forecast

Tornado Threat Forecast: May 23-29, 2017

For late May, it’s harder to get much quieter than this. Aside from Friday and Saturday, tornado threats over the next seven days look pretty minimal.

1-3 Day


Tuesday – Eastern Southeast

NUMBER OF TORNADOES EXPECTED: 3-8 – CONFIDENCE: Normal
Tornado Hot-spot: None

Pros: Moderate instability, good speed shear, decent low-level directional shear.
Cons: Somewhat weak upper-level support and clouds and rain already in the threat area could limit tornadic storm development, storm mode will be mostly linear due to unidirectional mid-to-upper level winds.

Wednesday – Eastern Southeast, southern Virginia

NUMBER OF TORNADOES EXPECTED: 2-6 – CONFIDENCE: Normal
Tornado Hot-spot: Carolinas

Pros: Decent/good low-level directional shear, good speed shear, decent/good upper-level support.
Cons: Unidirectional/backing mid-to-upper level winds, low instability.

Thursday – Central High Plains

NUMBER OF TORNADOES EXPECTED: 1-4 – CONFIDENCE: Normal
Tornado Hot-spot: None

Pros: Low to moderate instability, good low-level directional shear.
Cons: Unidirectional mid-to-upper level winds, fairly weak low-to-mid level speed shear, questionable storm coverage and storm mode.

4-7 Day


Friday – Central Plains

NUMBER OF TORNADOES EXPECTED: 3-7 – CONFIDENCE: Normal
Tornado Hot-spot: None

Pros: Good/excellent directional shear, low to moderate instability, decent mid-to-upper level speed shear.
Cons: Fairly weak low-level speed shear, weak upper-level support.

Saturday – Southeastern Plains, central Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley

NUMBER OF TORNADOES EXPECTED: 7-18 – CONFIDENCE: Low
Tornado Hot-spot: None

Pros: Moderate to high instability, good speed shear, decent/good low-level directional shear.
Cons: Fairly unidirectional winds in the mid-to-upper levels with some hints of backing winds, advancing cold front will try to make storms more linear, weak upper-level support.

Sunday – Texas, northern Louisiana

NUMBER OF TORNADOES EXPECTED: 1-4 – CONFIDENCE: Low
Tornado Hot-spot: None

Pros: Moderate to high instability, decent/good low-level directional shear.
Cons: Poor/decent speed shear, little to no upper-level support.

Monday – Southern High Plains

NUMBER OF TORNADOES EXPECTED: 0-2 – CONFIDENCE: Normal
Tornado Hot-spot: None

Pros: Good low-to-mid level directional shear, low-to-moderate instability.
Cons: Weak low-to-mid level speed shear, weak upper-level support.

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Operational Meteorologist at WeatherBug (Earth Networks). See full bio.

Latest posts by Mark Ellinwood (see all)

Mark Ellinwood

Operational Meteorologist at WeatherBug (Earth Networks). See full bio.

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  • I love your outlooks guys. I also know you guys are definitely busy. But I really look into your tornado threat forecasts. I know there was a lull for several days, but recently a bit higher tornado probabilities have been introduced and am looking forward to your next outlook. I hope its posted soon! =]

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