The Storm Prediction Center had tomorrow/Saturday's Southern USA storms in their 7 DAY outlook, which is rare for that far in advance. See this twitter thread from 5 January:

https://twitter.com/evan_bentley/status/1213849175139340289

Weather geeks have been talking about a 500 mb anomaly this week. Above my paygrade. But anons in TX/LA/AR/OK, please be aware of the weather tomorrow. Storm Prediction Center outlook for tomorrow is attached.