High Winds on the Southern High Plains

The chances of a significant tornado outbreak from the central Plains to the Ozarks this afternoon and night look even higher than they did when I posted on the subject earlier today (see posting below).  I'll have more here and at AccuWeather.com later today.

In the meantime, there is a threat I wish to mention and that is for high winds (brownish colors) and wildfires (maroon), especially after noon today. If you live in these areas be prepared for wind gusts in the 60 to, in some areas, 70 mph range!

National Weather Service map

Here is a computer-generated National Weather Service map showing the predicted wind gusts at 1pm CDT in knots (1 kt. = 1.15 mph).

So, those pink areas in west Texas and southeast New Mexico are 55 to 60 mph gusts. It is likely these very high winds will increase further in speed and spread east and north by mid- to late afternoon Thursday.