Relentless severe storms continue to trek across the Plains
By
Jessica Storm, AccuWeather Meteorologist
Updated May 25, 2021 9:16 PM EDT
Intense severe weather started off the week in the center of the United States following an active weekend that featured a number of tornado, damaging wind and hail reports.
Eight tornadoes were confirmed Saturday, and several more were confirmed Sunday. This event also carried into the early week.
According to AccuWeather meteorologists, a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado was located near Selden, Kansas, at 6:31 p.m. CDT Monday.
Similarly dangerous storms are expected to blow up again this week, bringing with them the risk of large hail, damaging wind gusts and even an isolated tornado.
Since Sunday, there have already been at least 30 reports of tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.
Heavy rain pummeled the Central states Monday, with Brenham, Texas, counting about 6 inches over 36 hours. Continuous rainfall spurred the NWS offices of the Gulf Coast to put out flood watches and warnings across Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.
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Feisty winds also struck the northern end of this event, with areas of Montana and South Dakota reporting gusts of over 60 mph. High wind advisories are in effect in the Dakotas until late Tuesday evening from places like Minot, North Dakota, to Buffalo, South Dakota.
"The cold front that produced severe thunderstorms on Monday, including tornadoes, will continue its path eastward into Tuesday night," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Rinde.
Cities like Amarillo, Texas, and Oklahoma City can anticipate high winds and thunderstorms during part of Tuesday night.
"The setup for severe weather during Tuesday night is widespread with the risk for gusty storms from the Midwest to the central and southern Plains around West Texas," Rinde said. Residents can expect many areas to have strong winds, hail, heavy rain and even an isolated tornado.
Flooding is also still a concern in the south-central region.
The area of high pressure anchored over the Southeast will result in persistent onshore flow from the Gulf of Mexico across the state of Texas, according to AccuWeather long-range meteorologists. This will result in a continued flood threat as the ground is already saturated after extreme rainfall over the past week.
"Motorists should be ready to slow down when they encounter downpours while driving on the highway, as there can be ponding of water on the roadway that increases the risk of hydroplaning," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Renee Duff.
However, in some areas, flooding is less of a concern where drought conditions are widespread.
A big drop in temperatures will occur in the Plains behind the cold front, according to AccuWeather's team of long-range meteorologists. There can be some needed rainfall for this area.
Several states across the midsection of the country are abnormally dry or even experiencing drought conditions. For example, over 35% of Iowa is in moderate drought, according to the United States Drought Monitor. The state's capital city, Des Moines, has only received about 48% of average rainfall since the start of April.
"There will be a few hot spots that are more likely to have severe thunderstorms Tuesday and Tuesday night from northern Iowa into northern Wisconsin as well as western Texas into south-central Kansas," said Rinde.
Forecasters expect cities such as Wichita, Kansas, and Midland, Texas, to be impacted by severe weather. Farther north, places like Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Rochester, Minnesota, are likely to have severe storms.
"On Wednesday, as the cold front moves eastward, gusty storms will be possible from the eastern Great Lakes eastward to the Middle Atlantic and Northeast," Rinde said. Gusty winds and hail will be the primary threat from these storms.
This won't not the end of the Plains' severe weather run, however.
"Even with the first storm moving eastward, the Plains will not get a break on Wednesday with the next storm arriving," said Rinde. These severe thunderstorms will have a high potential for strong winds, hail, heavy rain and tornadoes from eastern Wyoming into Nebraska and northern Kansas.
"While most of the severe thunderstorms will stay west of the hardest-hit areas of eastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana, locally heavy downpours streaming in from the Gulf of Mexico will pester these areas through early week," Duff said.
Forecasters hint that wet snow or sleet can mix in with all this rainfall Wednesday night, as temperatures dip 10-18 degrees below normal.
"It’s possible that just enough cool air comes in with the storm to allow for snowflakes to mix with rain in parts of North Dakota on Wednesday night, and then northern Wisconsin Thursday night," said Duff.
Normal low temperatures in Minot are in the mid-40s, but on Wednesday night, temperatures are expected to dive into the mid-30s instead, bringing with them the threat for snow mixing in with rain late. However, any snow that falls is not forecast to accumulate.
"North of the severe weather area, a soaking rain will set up from portions of the Dakotas to Minnesota and Wisconsin late Wednesday through Thursday," said Duff. This will arrive as good news considering the current drought situation in the northern Plains.
Even more storms are headed to Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri Thursday.
"While storms on Wednesday and Wednesday night deserve respect, storms on Thursday farther to the south over the Central states may be quite violent with the risk of very large hail, high winds and tornadoes," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
"Thursday is a day where people from northern Missouri to southwestern Oklahoma will need to keep up-to-date on severe weather as it could evolve into a dangerous situation," Sosnowski added.
Expanding domes of high pressure across the West and in southeastern Canada this weekend will create an avenue for slow-moving storms to travel across part of the Central states, according to long-range meteorologists. This will likely result in above-average rainfall and slightly lower-than-average temperatures across the central Plains, Midwest and Ohio Valley, as well as the risk for severe weather.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
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News / Severe Weather
Relentless severe storms continue to trek across the Plains
By Jessica Storm, AccuWeather Meteorologist
Updated May 25, 2021 9:16 PM EDT
Intense severe weather started off the week in the center of the United States following an active weekend that featured a number of tornado, damaging wind and hail reports.
Eight tornadoes were confirmed Saturday, and several more were confirmed Sunday. This event also carried into the early week.
According to AccuWeather meteorologists, a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado was located near Selden, Kansas, at 6:31 p.m. CDT Monday.
Similarly dangerous storms are expected to blow up again this week, bringing with them the risk of large hail, damaging wind gusts and even an isolated tornado.
Since Sunday, there have already been at least 30 reports of tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.
Heavy rain pummeled the Central states Monday, with Brenham, Texas, counting about 6 inches over 36 hours. Continuous rainfall spurred the NWS offices of the Gulf Coast to put out flood watches and warnings across Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Feisty winds also struck the northern end of this event, with areas of Montana and South Dakota reporting gusts of over 60 mph. High wind advisories are in effect in the Dakotas until late Tuesday evening from places like Minot, North Dakota, to Buffalo, South Dakota.
"The cold front that produced severe thunderstorms on Monday, including tornadoes, will continue its path eastward into Tuesday night," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Rinde.
Cities like Amarillo, Texas, and Oklahoma City can anticipate high winds and thunderstorms during part of Tuesday night.
"The setup for severe weather during Tuesday night is widespread with the risk for gusty storms from the Midwest to the central and southern Plains around West Texas," Rinde said. Residents can expect many areas to have strong winds, hail, heavy rain and even an isolated tornado.
Flooding is also still a concern in the south-central region.
The area of high pressure anchored over the Southeast will result in persistent onshore flow from the Gulf of Mexico across the state of Texas, according to AccuWeather long-range meteorologists. This will result in a continued flood threat as the ground is already saturated after extreme rainfall over the past week.
"Motorists should be ready to slow down when they encounter downpours while driving on the highway, as there can be ponding of water on the roadway that increases the risk of hydroplaning," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Renee Duff.
However, in some areas, flooding is less of a concern where drought conditions are widespread.
A big drop in temperatures will occur in the Plains behind the cold front, according to AccuWeather's team of long-range meteorologists. There can be some needed rainfall for this area.
Several states across the midsection of the country are abnormally dry or even experiencing drought conditions. For example, over 35% of Iowa is in moderate drought, according to the United States Drought Monitor. The state's capital city, Des Moines, has only received about 48% of average rainfall since the start of April.
"There will be a few hot spots that are more likely to have severe thunderstorms Tuesday and Tuesday night from northern Iowa into northern Wisconsin as well as western Texas into south-central Kansas," said Rinde.
Forecasters expect cities such as Wichita, Kansas, and Midland, Texas, to be impacted by severe weather. Farther north, places like Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Rochester, Minnesota, are likely to have severe storms.
"On Wednesday, as the cold front moves eastward, gusty storms will be possible from the eastern Great Lakes eastward to the Middle Atlantic and Northeast," Rinde said. Gusty winds and hail will be the primary threat from these storms.
This won't not the end of the Plains' severe weather run, however.
"Even with the first storm moving eastward, the Plains will not get a break on Wednesday with the next storm arriving," said Rinde. These severe thunderstorms will have a high potential for strong winds, hail, heavy rain and tornadoes from eastern Wyoming into Nebraska and northern Kansas.
"While most of the severe thunderstorms will stay west of the hardest-hit areas of eastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana, locally heavy downpours streaming in from the Gulf of Mexico will pester these areas through early week," Duff said.
Forecasters hint that wet snow or sleet can mix in with all this rainfall Wednesday night, as temperatures dip 10-18 degrees below normal.
"It’s possible that just enough cool air comes in with the storm to allow for snowflakes to mix with rain in parts of North Dakota on Wednesday night, and then northern Wisconsin Thursday night," said Duff.
Normal low temperatures in Minot are in the mid-40s, but on Wednesday night, temperatures are expected to dive into the mid-30s instead, bringing with them the threat for snow mixing in with rain late. However, any snow that falls is not forecast to accumulate.
"North of the severe weather area, a soaking rain will set up from portions of the Dakotas to Minnesota and Wisconsin late Wednesday through Thursday," said Duff. This will arrive as good news considering the current drought situation in the northern Plains.
Even more storms are headed to Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri Thursday.
"While storms on Wednesday and Wednesday night deserve respect, storms on Thursday farther to the south over the Central states may be quite violent with the risk of very large hail, high winds and tornadoes," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
"Thursday is a day where people from northern Missouri to southwestern Oklahoma will need to keep up-to-date on severe weather as it could evolve into a dangerous situation," Sosnowski added.
Expanding domes of high pressure across the West and in southeastern Canada this weekend will create an avenue for slow-moving storms to travel across part of the Central states, according to long-range meteorologists. This will likely result in above-average rainfall and slightly lower-than-average temperatures across the central Plains, Midwest and Ohio Valley, as well as the risk for severe weather.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo