Tornado Risk in U.S. South: Tracking Storms in Mississippi, Alabama and More

Severe storms, with winds gusting up to 70 miles an hour and the chance of tornadoes, will lash a large portion of the Southeast on Friday afternoon and into the night. People living anywhere from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean face at least some threat.

The new storm system comes just three days after another yielded more than 20 reports of tornadoes from Florida to North Carolina. Security-camera footage showed one of those tornadoes sending the facades of a small town’s brick commercial buildings tumbling into the street.

Friday’s storms threaten the same states that were hit on Tuesday.

The chance of tornadoes and strong winds will be highest over Mississippi at about midday Friday. Forecasters with the Storm Prediction Center warn that as this storm system moves east, the tornado threat might persist across portions of Alabama and Georgia during the day and into the Carolinas on Friday evening.