ATLANTA– The weekend is kicking off much like the work week has ended across much of the nation’s heartland: with weather maps and radars dotted with clusters of strong thunderstorms and severe weather alerts.  

Saturday’s severe weather threat covers around 65 million people across the southern Plains, Deep South and into the Southeast. Primary dangers include wind gusts of 60+ mph and very large to giant hail, but a few tornadoes are possible.

Already severe weather pounded Oklahoma early Saturday morning with one confirmed Tornado Warning in the eastern part of the state. But so far there are no initial reports of any damage.

Storms were set to refire later Saturday amid a very warm and unstable air mass. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has issued a Level 3 out 5 severe weather risk stretching from eastern Oklahoma across the heart of Arkansas and into the South and Tennessee Valley, including Little Rock, Memphis and Atlanta.

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A Level 2 threat covers much of the rest of the South and Southeast, including Nashville and Charlotte.

In addition, while thunderstorms are expected to move at a decent pace, the setup may allow some areas to experience repeated rounds of heavy rain, triggering a flash flood threat, the FOX Forecast Center says.

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This “training” effect – where storms repeatedly form over the same locations, could lead to totals exceeding 3 inches, and possibly as high as 5 inches by the time the storms finish.

The greatest risk for flash flooding on Saturday appears to generally mimic where the Level 3 severe storm threat looms.

Relentless severe weather pattern remains Sunday and Monday

The severe weather forecast maps remain busy on Sunday and Monday with the main focus returning to the Southern Plains.

A Level 3 out of 5 severe weather threat is already in place for much of North Texas and Oklahoma, including the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and Oklahoma City.  

Sunday’s storms have a greater threat of even stronger winds with gusts over 75 mph and very large hail of egg size or larger.  The tornado threat climbs higher than on Saturday.

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A second severe weather threat hugs much of the Atlantic Seaboard from the Washington, D.C. area south through the Carolinas into Savannah, Georgia. Damaging wind gusts are the primary danger here.

More severe thunderstorms threaten the Southeast on Monday.