ORLANDO, Fla. – A potent cold front that is draped from the Great Lakes back into south Texas has much of the Deep South under some type of severe weather alert tonight after a very active afternoon.
The line of thunderstorms moved from west to east ahead of the strong cold front prompting numerous severe thunderstorm warnings along with tornado watch areas and a handful of tornado warnings.
According to the NWS Nashville office, a tornado touched down around 1 p.m. in Clarksville, Tennessee. A tornadic storm followed suit ripping through five counties in middle Tennessee including Sumner, causing massive damage and power outages for thousands of residents.
The Associated Press reported that at least six people were killed Saturday and about two dozen others were sent to the hospital as homes and businesses were damaged in multiple cities.
This is the same cold front that will move into Central Florida late tomorrow, but the severe weather outlook issued by the Storm Prediction Center has much of the southeast including portions of Central Florida under a marginal risk for severe weather.
Sunday will start off quiet with only a few isolated showers near the Brevard and Volusia county coast. The wind will pick up gradually throughout the day ranging 5-15 mph out of the south-southeast and gusting near 20 mph.
Much of Central Florida will be dry for a good portion of the day.
Highs rebound to the low 80s, which is above average for this time of year.
After 4 p.m. storms, will begin to move in ahead of the cold front impacting Marion County first, then progress to the east-to=southeast reaching Lake County by the early evening or near sunset.
The cold front will continue to move quickly through and eventually push offshore overnight gradually weakening in the process.
From the late afternoon to the late evening would be the time frame for a storm to possibly turn severe mainly back to the west and northwest of Interstate 4. There is limited instability, but it could be enough to fuel a storm or two capable of producing strong wind gusts between 40-60 mph, heavy rain, lightning, and possibly some small hail.
A brief isolated spin up can’t be completely ruled out, but the overall threat is not as great as the other hazards.
A lot of the heavy rain tapers off closer to 9 or 10 p.m. with a little light rain lingering through late tomorrow night.
Cooler and drier air will move in behind the front sending lows to the 40s and 50s by early Monday morning. The chilly air takes over for the start of the work week.
Highs will rebound to the low-to-mid 60s by Monday afternoon. The breezy north wind will gust near 20-25 mph adding a little extra chill to the air even with ample sunshine around.
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