Conditions for tornadoes ramping up across the southern US

Doyle Rice in USA Today: An outbreak of severe storms and tornadoes is likely across the South today, and torrential rain is forecast for other areas as the nasty weather heads east. The most dangerous storms will strike late afternoon into the evening as they move across Arkansas and spread into northern Mississippi and western Tennessee, according to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman, Okla.

"Tornadoes, a few possibly strong, and particularly damaging winds will be possible," the SPC says. The big cities most at risk are Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis and Nashville, the Weather Channel reports.

The forecast calls for as much as 5 inches of rain to drench the lower Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley regions. Flood watches are posted from Arkansas to Pennsylvania. This year, 11 tornadoes have struck across the USA, the SPC reports. Severe weather, which can include tornadoes or storms producing large hail or damaging winds, is running 60% below average this year, Weather Channel severe weather expert Greg Forbes says.

"The cold weather has suppressed the severe weather activity," he says. "We're now getting into the time of the year for the severe weather threat to ramp up." More severe storms that are potentially more powerful could form early next week, Weather Channel meteorologist Tom Moore says…

A powerful 2007 tornado in Manitoba, shot by Justin1569, Wikimedia Commons (where it has garnered plenty of recognition, since it's a great image), under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license