Long-tracking and intense thunderstorms have bombarded areas from the southern Plains to the Southeast this week with damaging winds, hail, tornadoes and torrential downpours. AccuWeather meteorologists warn that these same areas will remain at risk of strong thunderstorm complexes into next week before a change in the weather pattern occurs.
Through much of this week, complexes of thunderstorms have been developing and moving along the northern edge of a dome of heat centered on Texas then plunging southward toward parts of the Gulf and southern Atlantic coasts. As the pattern continued to ramp up, some long-tracking thunderstorms approached the official threshold meteorologists use to label such storm systems as derechos.
