Severe Storms Fire Up Across Parts of the Midwest

Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected linger across the Ohio River Valley tonight.

A vigorous disturbance will track across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley through tonight, causing scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms. Some of the thunderstorms will have the potential to produce torrential downpours, damaging wind gusts up to 60 to 70 mph, hail and even a couple of tornadoes. The thunderstorms will likely lead to some travel delays across this region of the country.

The government's Storm Prediction Center has issued an Enhanced Risk (level 3 out of 5) for southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. 

There is also issued a Slight Risk (level 2 out of 5) that encompasses the Enhanced Risk for eastern Illinois, much of Indiana, the rest of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, far western Pennsylvania and parts of western West Virginia. Cities under this risk include Detroit Mich., Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and Charleston, W.V.

Severe Thunderstorm Watches are in effect for far southern Indiana and east-central Kentucky. 

Storms produced quite the impact across the Chicago area where there were widespread reports of large hail and damaging wind gusts. A wind gust of 74 mph was reported at Chicago-Midway, while a gust of 64 mph was reported at Chicago O'Hare. Over 475,000 customers are without power this evening across Wisconsin, Illinios and Indiana.  

This disturbance will bring strong to severe thunderstorms across the Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday afternoon and evening along with the potential for heavy rain and flooding concerns across the New York City area and interior areas of the Northeast.

Be sure to know the difference between a watch and a warning. A watch means that the conditions are in place to possibly produce severe weather conditions, while a warning indicates that those conditions are currently occurring. Be sure to have multiple ways to receive warnings as storms will be occurring late tonight. Also, take caution if you are outdoors during a thunderstorm. Remember, “When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!”