Severe Storm Threat Thursday Evening/Night, Cooler Weekend Coming!

WBBJ 7 Forecast Update

April 17, 2024

Joel Barnes,

WBBJ 7 Forecast Update:

An enhanced risk (3/5) for severe storms has been issued for counties north of Madison in West Tennessee for Thursday. We are under a level 2 in Madison county. There is a shot for some individual rotating storms to develop in the late afternoon and early evening hours across West Tennessee. Confidence in those storms is lower than the gusty wind storms forecast to come through between sunset and the early morning hours on Friday. Both clusters or storms will pose a severe weather threat in our area. Please stay weather aware, and follow WBBJ meteorologists online, over the radio and on TV tomorrow as the day progresses. Catch the latest timing of Thursday’s event and we will have the rest of your forecast, including a cooler weekend, coming up here.

TONIGHT:

Some early morning storms lingered Wednesday but cleared out around the time the sun came up for most of us. All of West Tennessee stayed dry into the afternoon and evening hours. Skies were partly to mostly cloudy and will continue that way Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The winds were a bit breezy out of the southwest and turn calm overnight. The weather remained warm and humid due to the southerly winds with highs reached the low to mid 80s. Wednesday night will fall to the mid 60s and rain is not in the forecast tonight.

THURSDAY:

Another round of storms and potential severe weather will be returning on Thursday. As of now, Thursday’s threat looks more concerning than what we saw on Tuesday. Like Tuesday, the storms are coming in late in the evening and continuing Thursday night into Friday morning. We are currently under a slight risk (2/5) from Jackson to the south but a level 3 (enhanced risk) has been issued for the northern counties in West Tennessee.

May be an image of map and text that says 'STORM TEAM WEATHER wbbjtv.com STORM TEAM 7 STORM FORECAST THU 7:00 PM RAIN MIXED Tiptonville Union City SNOW Martin Paris Dyersburg THERE IS A CHANCE WE SEE A FEW LATE AFTERNOON OR EARLY EVENING INDIVIDUAL STORMS POPPING UP. THESE COULD TRY TO ROTATE & BECOME A TORNADO THREAT BEFORE THE MAIN LINE OF GUSTY WINDS STORMS COMES THROUGH AFTER TH SUN GOES DOWN! Trenton Ripley Huntingdon Camden Alamo Covitngton Jackson Brownsville Lexington Parsons Henderson Memphis Somerville Bolivar Selmer Savannah'

Thursday is going to be another warm, breezy and humid day. Highs will reach the mid to maybe even upper 80s for some of us. Thursday could be the warmest day of 2024 so far. We are also expecting the winds will be breezy and come out of the south between 10-20 MPH. Expect clouds to increase during the day. Chances for rain are at 80% as of now. Thursday night lows could dip to around 60° if the cold front passes before Friday morning.

FRIDAY:

The showers and storms will wrap up Friday morning and a dry afternoon is expected on Friday. Friday will be cooler behind the front and less humid. Highs on Friday will make it up to around 70°. The winds on Friday are forecast to come out of the northeast between 10-15 MPH. Skies will be partly to mostly cloudy but there will be a few hours where the sun will be peaking through. Friday night lows will fall down to around 50° to kick off our weekend.

THE WEEKEND:

The forecast is going to be tricky this weekend as a low pressure system will pass to our south. West Tennessee is right on the northern edge of the rain chances from the system. We are likely going to be under the clouds at times but the showers are going to be close. The further south you are, the more likely you are to encounter the rain and clouds this weekend. As the week progresses we should get a better handle of what we can expect this weekend. We are not expecting any severe weather from that system.

Highs on Saturday will reach the mid 60s and Sunday highs are forecast to stay in the low 60s. It will be cooler this weekend due to a northerly breeze around 10 MPH. If we get the sun to peek through, we could be a little warmer over the weekend. Rain chances in Jackson sit at 40% on Saturday and 30% on Sunday as of now. Saturday night will fall to the mid to upper 40s and Sunday night lows will drop down to the low to mid 40s. We should stay out of the 30s this weekend.

FINAL THOUGHT:

The next round of storms and potential severe weather is coming in late into the day on Thursday. The second system this week as of now looks to pose a bigger threat for severe storms in West Tennessee than the one on Tuesday did. Warm and humid weather will be sticking around for the work week but cooler weather will move in for the weekend. Please stay weather aware for both these events as April is the month where we usually see our biggest storms of the year.