Severe weather outlook for Friday and Saturday

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN / MEMPHISWEATHER.NET
633 AM CDT FRI MAY 9 2008

...A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK IS POSSIBLE ACROSS PARTS OF THE MID SOUTH SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY NIGHT...

...THE MEMPHIS METRO AREA HAS BEEN PLACED UNDER A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER FOR SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY NIGHT...

LOW PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS SATURDAY AND MOVE INTO THE MIDDLE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY SATURDAY NIGHT WHILE A WARM FRONT SURGES NORTHWARD INTO THE MID SOUTH. THIS WILL BRING A WARM...MOIST...AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS INTO THE REGION AHEAD OF A STRONG COLD FRONT THAT WILL APPROACH FROM THE WEST. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP WELL AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT...NEAR THE WARM FRONT...SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. AN ADDITIONAL LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP ALONG AND IMMEDIATELY IN ADVANCE OF THE COLD FRONT AS IT MOVES ACROSS THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT...BETWEEN 8PM AND 2AM. THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...AND TORNADOES. THE POTENTIAL WILL ALSO EXIST FOR A FEW STRONG TORNADOES.

ALSO BE AWARE THAT THE MID-SOUTH IS UNDER A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WHILE ONLY ISOLATED STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP...UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS COULD CAUSE ANY STORM THAT FORMS TO BECOME SEVERE RAPIDLY. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE ALL POSSIBLE DURING THE PEAK HEATING HOURS FROM 2-10PM TODAY.

MID-SOUTHERNERS SHOULD KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION CONCERNING THESE DEVELOPING SEVERE WEATHER THREATS. MEMPHISWEATHER.NET WILL KEEP YOU UPDATED ON THE LATEST EVENTS AS THEY UNFOLD.
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SJM/EAP