Environmental

Severe Weather Outbreak to Eye Central US


midweek thunderstorms US severe weather
(AccuWeather)
Renee Duff,
Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com

AccuWeather-(ENEWSPF)- AccuWeather reports following isolated damaging storms Monday night, there will be a heightened risk of severe weather and dangerous storms across the central and southern Plains late Tuesday into Wednesday.

Residents and travelers from Minnesota to Texas will need to monitor the forecast and keep flashlights and weather radios handy over the next several days. Most days this week will feature severe weather somewhere over the Central states.

During the evening hours on Monday, isolated but very potent thunderstorms will develop along the boundary of dry air to the west and moist air to the east from western Kansas to the Texas Panhandle.

These thunderstorms will be capable of producing very large hail and damaging wind gusts.

A separate area of severe thunderstorms can develop along the northern edge of building warmth from eastern South Dakota through southern Minnesota, northern Iowa and into central Wisconsin from late Monday to Monday night.

Locations along this swath will be primarily at risk for damaging winds, large hail and localized flooding.

In both areas there is the risk of a few isolated tornadoes during Monday evening.

A more extensive severe weather event looms beyond the start of the week.

“There will not be much of a trigger for widespread severe thunderstorms to form until Tuesday,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Frank Strait said. “This is when a substantial storm system will be coming out of the Rockies.”

Thunderstorms will blossom late Tuesday afternoon from southwestern Iowa though southeastern Nebraska, west-central Kansas and into the Texas Panhandle.

The severe thunderstorms will then spread eastward through the evening and overnight hours into eastern Kansas, central Oklahoma and south-central Texas.

“The environment will be favorable for supercells (discrete thunderstorms), and thus tornadoes,” Strait said.

“A few tornadoes may be capable of long tracks and extreme intensity,” AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologist Joseph Bauer said.

The most widespread impacts from the thunderstorms will be damaging wind gusts, large hail and flash flooding.

“Disruptions to logistical operations are expected, with downed trees and power lines, road closures and structural damage to businesses and homes all possible,” Bauer said.

These damaging impacts could threaten the cities and surrounding communities of Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha and Grand Island, Nebraska; Topeka and Wichita, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Oklahoma City; and Abilene, Texas.

Heavy and gusty thunderstorms will also erupt farther north to parts of Minnesotaon Tuesday.

The severe weather through midweek will be the start of another active weather pattern across the Central states as more flooding and severe thunderstorms target the region spanning Thursday to Sunday.


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