Hazardous weather conditions are building in Eastern Kentucky. Officials said severe thunderstorms, which can produce strong winds and large hail, are possible throughout the weekend.
Multiple rounds of thunderstorms are possible Friday, and into Saturday. Christian Cassell, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, said keeping up with storm alerts is the key to staying safe.
“When you get a severe thunderstorm warning, towards the end of the message there will be a call-to-action statement. Which will almost always, for sure, tell you to move to a sturdy structure, preferably to an interior room. So, that would be the ideal scenario,” said Cassell.
Damaging winds as fast as 75 miles per hour could appear later Friday and early Saturday morning. Cassell said flash flooding is not likely in this storm system.
“The storms will be fast moving. That’s a good thing in terms of causing flash flooding. The problem could be if we storms move repeatedly across the same area within a relatively short period of time. We could get some flash flooding that way,” said Cassell.
Cassell said having multiple ways of receiving information, like radio, TV, or cellphone is also important for staying alert during severe weather events. The storms should lessen in strength throughout Saturday and into the rest of the week, but isolated events could continue through Wednesday.