US: Another round of severe weather is on the weather maps across the centre of the country this week, less than a week after a deadly and destructive tornado outbreak wreaked havoc across sections of the Midwest and South. Storms with devastating winds and tornadoes are expected to reach areas north and west of those affected hard Friday night, but AccuWeather meteorologists warn that severe thunderstorms might erupt in severely-hit sections of the Mississippi Valley. Furthermore, rainy weather may pause, and severe rain may stymie search, recovery, and cleanup efforts later this week.
Hundreds of people have been killed, and officials fear that the death toll may rise as search operations for those still missing continue.
All weather scenarios that cause severe weather are different, and the setup for severe weather across the central United States from late Wednesday to Thursday evening will be different from last week’s pattern.
Despite the fact that the storm will be similar in strength to the cross-country storm that caused catastrophic weather last week, it will track hundreds of miles further north. This element alone will cause major changes in severe thunderstorm behaviour this week.
Because of its northern course, the storm will be further away from a plentiful supply of Gulf of Mexico moisture this week, which is a vital factor in generating severe weather, particularly tornadoes.
“A strong low-level jet stream moved moisture into the middle Mississippi, lower Ohio, and Tennessee valleys quickly on Friday night,” AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno stated.
Some moisture will be carried northward until early Thursday, but not at the same rate or to the same extent as the event last Friday night. After the greatest threat of severe weather has passed, the most significant surge of moisture may occur.
A powerful circulation around the storm is likely to produce a broad zone of severe to damaging winds from the Desert Southwest to the Plains and Mississippi Valley, even if rain does not fall. Winds outside of thunderstorms can reach speeds of up to 60 mph in many circumstances, which can cause power outages, property damage, and increase the risk of fast-moving brush fires in dry places.
Rather than moist air from the South, these powerful winds will pull in mostly dry air from nearly 1,000 miles away in the deserts of the Southwest until Wednesday night.
The storm system’s intensity will likely continue to produce severe thunderstorms late Wednesday afternoon and evening across much of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas, as well as much of Iowa, southern Minnesota, and western and northern Missouri.
Rayno explained, “The severe storms with significant wind gusts will form a long, slender line that will move fast to the south and east Wednesday night and into Thursday.”
Straight-line gusts of 60-80 mph are possible as the storms sprint through at highway speeds well after midnight on Wednesday. In a select situations, an AccuWeather Local StormMaxTM gust of 100 mph can occur.
During the middle of Wednesday night, storms could approach the coastlines of Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River around the Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri borders. Storms with gusts strong enough to cause property damage, send holiday decorations and garbage cans flying, knock down trees, and cause power outages could impact cities including Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin, as well as Chicago and St. Louis late Wednesday night.
Because the storm system and much of the associated wind energy are expected to lift northward into Canada by Thursday, the front that is causing severe thunderstorms is expected to decelerate and weaken as it approaches the zone from southern Ohio to central Arkansas.
Heavy, gusty, and isolated severe thunderstorms are still possible in this zone from Thursday until Thursday night. Even though most of the storms will have passed, the mere sight of thunder and lightning, as well as gusting gusts and downpours, can put many people on edge, especially those who are still picking up the pieces from last Friday’s tornadoes.
Another issue could occur as the forward speed of the front vehicle slows to a crawl.
“The setup from late Thursday to the first part of this weekend has the potential to deliver recurring showers and thunderstorms, or at the very least prolonged rounds of drenching rain in some areas,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.
“In the aftermath of the horrific and fatal tornadoes that struck much of this same area,” Anderson said, adding that enough rain could fall in some areas to cause localised flash floods.
The front will stall as the Southeastern states experience extreme warmth, and more seasonable air will spread from the northern Plains to the Upper Midwest and Northeast.
