We will have to cope with a few showers and thunderstorms this evening, but I doubt it will be anything like what parts of the Midwest and Deep South had to deal with yesterday.  A strong cold front swept through yesterday afternoon and evening creating havoc and dangerous weather in its path.  Take a look at yesterday's storm reports...there is no doubt that yesterday was extremely active!

There were 54 tornado reports yesterday!  That alone is incredible, but combined with the wind and hail reports from yesterday, there were 200 storm reports for the middle section of the country.  What an exhausting and devastating day!  Unfortunately, a battle zone has been setting up across this region all year and as a result, they have been getting pounded with dangerous storms and frequent tornadoes.

While this is not the cleanest image (sorry for that one), I have drawn an approximation of where the cold front was located yesterday around 1:00PM EDT.  You can make out a distinct wind shift between stations behind and ahead of the cold front.  While temperature differences were not that significant, it was the wind shift that really allowed me to see where the boundary was located.  Winds behind the front were coming from the WNW, while winds ahead of it were coming from the SSW.  The border between Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee really saw some action at this time yesterday.  The front was getting ready to pass through and as a result, strong thunderstorms and tornadoes ripped through this particular area.  Let's check out the radar at this time!

I have circled the cell that produced a tornado that tore apart small communities right along the border.  This strong thunderstorm cell was at the beginnings of its rotation at the time of this radar image.  I have an arrow pointing where the classic hook echo was starting to take shape.  Notice in the storm reports image above that this area reported several tornadoes yesterday.  The image below shows the horrific result of what happened.

This picture is from the Associated Press and shows just how immense the damage was from yesterday's storms that ripped through Arkansas.  The final death toll in Arkansas is seven; this photo shows a residence in Earle, Arkansas hours after the storms rushed through.

My heart goes out to all the folks that had to deal with the dangerous weather yesterday.  We should be okay this evening as I do not expect our round of showers and thunderstorms to create too many problems.  As always, however, if the situation does indeed turn a little nasty, we will be here working for you.  Stay tuned to the abc27 StormTrak Team with continuous updates if needed.  Otherwise, enjoy your weekend and let's keep hoping for some warmer temperatures!