Portions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are under “high” and “moderate” risk

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/thunderstorms-tornadoes-threaten-south-n1261278 outlooks, the National Weather Service said.

March 17, 2021, 5:28 AM PDT/UpdatedMarch 17, 2021, 7:25 AM PDTByWilson WongandKathryn Prociv

A dangerous outbreak of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes is forecast to threaten the South and Southeast Wednesday and Thursday, officials said.

Portions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are under “high” and “moderate” risk outlooks as large hail and damaging winds are expected to move from the southern Plains to the Southeast, according to theNational Weather Service‘s Storm Prediction Center. High-risk severe weather outlooks are rare.

“The last time this happened in March was nine years ago,” NBC’s “TODAY” show co-host Al Roker said.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=NBCNews&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1372073000426741761&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fus-news%2Fthunderstorms-tornadoes-threaten-south-n1261278&siteScreenName=NBCNews&theme=light&widgetsVersion=e1ffbdb%3A1614796141937&width=550px

Impacted areas are at risk of strong, long-track tornadoes, which remain on the ground for an extended period of time.

The onslaught of storms is expected to continue into the afternoon and overnight…