Severe weather possible ahead of front

LITTLE ROCK, AR - A dangerous thunderstorm complex will emerge from the Rocky Mountains today.  As this complex interacts with the warm, moist air in Oklahoma and Kansas there will be several rounds of severe weather.  The first few rounds will hit the Central Plans late this afternoon and possibly last through the overnight hours.  The worst activity will remain to the west of Arkansas today.

On Saturday, the complex will get stronger and interact with more spin in the atmosphere.  Inevitably a tornado outbreak is likely to occur in Oklahoma and Central/Eastern Kansas.  Large, long-lived tornadoes are expected along with baseball hail and gusty 70 mph winds.  Again, Arkansas will not be the risk area for Saturday.

Once the complex races eastward to Missouri on Sunday and drags a cold front through Arkansas we may see severe weather break out in the state.  The timing of this event is still questionable but leading models indicate late Sunday afternoon and evening will be the worst.  The highlighted area of concern is West and Northwest Arkansas but parts of Central Arkansas could be included in the severe weather late Sunday evening.  All modes of severe weather are on the table for Sunday with tornadoes, large hail and gusty winds.

At this time, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK has Central and Western Arkansas under a Slight Risk of severe weather on Sunday.  This highlighted region will likely be upgraded to a Moderate Risk once we get closer to Sunday.  Be sure to keep it tuned to FOX 16 for the very latest on this developing weather story.