Tornado watch until 1 p.m. for much of New Orleans area; severe ...

A tornado watch has been issued for much of the New Orleans area until 1 p.m. on Christmas Day, according to the Slidell office of the National Weather Service. Severe weather, including the chance of strong tornadoes also is possible through the evening.

The tornado watch includes all parishes in the New Orleans area except St Bernard and Plaquemines, and extends north and west to the Baton Rouge area and Lafayette.

"A dangerous severe weather outbreak expected to impact the area today as a potent weather system moves through the lower Mississippi Valley," says a hazardous weather outlook message issued by forecasters. "The Storm Prediction Center is currently indicating a moderate risk of severe weather across areas that are generally along and north of a line from Donaldsonville to Pascagoula with a slight risk across the remainder of the area.

"The main threats from any severe thunderstorms will be damaging winds and tornadoes," the message said. "However, locally heavy rainfall and large hail will also be possible."

The severe weather, expected to occur in the afternoon and evening hours, could include strong tornadoes ranked at EF2 or greater on the Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado strength, or winds greater than 75 mph.

Forecasters said the launch of weather instruments from the Slidell office of the National Weather Service this morning confirmed "that the atmosphere is more than primed for severe weahter today and is only likely to become more favorable as we move into the afternoon hours, where a lull in convection could allow for additional surface heating and destabilization of the atmosphere."

The severe weather will continue to be a possibility until a cold front moves through the area late this evening or tonight.

Expect highs to reach the mid-70s on Tuesday, dropping to the mid-40s overnight. Wednesday will be much cooler, with highs only in the lower 50s as partly cloudy skies in the morning turn clear by the afternoon. Wednesday night sees temperatures dropping into the mid-30s in New Orleans and lower 30s on the Northshore.

Temperatures will slowly moderate until the weekend. Another cold front will bring showers and thunderstorms to the area on Saturday, but widespread severe weather is not expected then.?

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Source: http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2012/12/tornado_watch_until_1_pm_for_m.html

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