Damaging winds the main threat of Saturday afternoon storms

The Arkadelphia area is expected to be in the path of a line of severe storms that will surge through Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.

Damaging winds will be the main threat, the National Weather Service in Little Rock said in its latest forecast Friday morning.

“The tornado threat will be quick, spin-up tornadoes embedded in the line of storms,” NWS warned. Weather service officials say residents should be prepared to take quick action to seek shelter with these types of tornadoes, which typically are not visible.

Arkadelphia may expect showers Saturday morning, followed by midday storms and an increased chance for severe weather that afternoon. Weather conditions for Arkadelphia will be otherwise mostly sunny, with a high near 82 and 5-10 mph winds coming from the southwest, with gusts as high as 15 mph.

Chance of precipitation is 70%, with new rainfall amounts totaling up to 1/2 inch.

Saturday night’s forecast is calling for showers and possibly a thunderstorm before midnight, with slighter chances of precipitation into the pre-dawn hours of Sunday. Chance of precipitation is 60% under partly cloudy skies, with a low around 51.

Clear skies will return Sunday through Wednesday, with highs in the 70s and lows in the upper 40s or low 50s.