Deep South, Get Ready to Get Walloped

Americans in the Deep South might want to find a nice Yankee cousin to visit for a couple of days, because the weather is looking to be, shall we say, unpleasant? As Weather.com reports, a strong jet stream is ripping through the region starting Wednesday, bringing with it severe thunderstorms, large hail, high winds of up to 80mph, and possible tornadoes. In the line of fire: southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, northern Florida, and southern South Carolina, though ABC News notes that the "bull's-eye" for the weather pattern runs from Jackson, Mississippi, to Montgomery, Alabama, to Albany, Georgia.

Also on the menu for the Lower Mississippi Valley is a possible derecho, or straight-line storm, which tends to be devastating to trees, power lines, buildings, and the like. Flash flooding is also possible, particularly in southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia. It's expected to also be unbearably hot: ABC notes that a heat wave is running from Florida to Louisiana to Texas, where temps are supposed to hit 98 in Austin and 110 in Laredo, with a heat index of 119. Those temperatures are predicted to continue into Friday. (More severe weather stories.)