Hail, flooding and winds slam US from South to Northeast
Storms spanned across large parts of the U.S. bringing heavy rainfall, damaging wind and hail.
Days on end of a severe weather outbreak walloping the south-central United States will on May 2 stretch up through Tennessee and Kentucky with “intense clusters of thunderstorms,” forecasters said.
The severe thunderstorms are expected in the afternoon to evening and could also bring corridors of strong wind gusts and hail, the largest of which will come over central Texas, the Storm Prediction Center said. A tornado or two is also possible, according to the National Weather Service. More than 1.1 million people in north Texas and Oklahoma were under a severe thunderstorm watch early May 2.
Flooding remains a concern with a slight risk of excessive rainfall in the south-central region after days of heavy rains have already saturated the ground, leading to deadly flooding in Oklahoma.
The end of April and beginning of May have brought intense rounds of storms across a large swath of the country from Texas through upstate New York. At least five people have died in recent days from storms that brought severe winds to Pennsylvania and flooding in Oklahoma.
Parts of Oklahoma have wettest April ever
Oklahoma City and other parts of the state had the wettest April on record as the rounds of storms bore down, bringing excessive rainfall in recent days to areas that already flooded earlier in the month.
In April 2025, Oklahoma City received 12.55 inches of rainfall in total. That put Oklahoma’s rain total for 2025 at 15.54 inches, up from almost 3 inches at the start of April. Before 2025, the title was held by April 1947, which saw 11.91 inches of rain in Oklahoma City.
The relentless rain caused a patched dam to fail in northeast Oklahoma and triggered creeks to overflow, closing roads and highways across the state, the Oklahoman, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
Gov. Kevin Stitt on April 30 declared a state of emergency for three Oklahoma counties because of continued heavy rain, flooding and severe weather that began on April 19.
-Jana Hayes, the Oklahoman
Memphis weather
Damaging winds, possible hail and maybe or tornado or two are in the cards for Memphis on May 2 as the city gears up for the RiverBeat Music Festival.
Wind gusts up to 70 mph, ping pong ball-sized hail and a slight threat of tornadoes are expected throughout the day on May 2, particularly south of Interstate 40, the weather service in Memphis said. Later in the weekend the threat will decrease but scattered showers are possible May 3.
Flooding warning in Santa Barbara, LA
Meanwhile on the West Coast, thunderstorms with rampant lightning quickly developed the afternoon of May 1, prompting a flash flood warning for parts of California including Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
The weather service in Los Angeles said there is a slight chance for more thunderstorms on May 2.
A weekend storm may also be the last rainfall across much of Southern California until fall, AccuWeather warned. It was a dryer-than-usual April, and residents should be prepared for a prolonged stretch of dry weather.
Unsettled weather to reach major cities including New York, Boston
The storm front hitting the south-central region and Tennessee Valley is expected to move to the east and south during the first weekend of May, bringing risks of showers and thunderstorms to the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Appalachians and Southeast, the National Weather Service said.
Forecasters in Boston said scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected the afternoon of May 3. Some of the storms may be strong to severe. The weather service in Boston said “isolated strong to severe t-storms with locally strong/damaging wind gusts, hail and brief torrential rainfall will be possible.”
Major cities including New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., are in the path for potential storms that could be strong enough to cause airline delays over the weekend, according to AccuWeather.
