Severe Threats to Hit Tornado Alley, Upper Midwest

Severe storms are set to rumble from the Texas Panhandle to Lake Superior today.

In the High Plains, cooler air will overlay a heated surface, creating a strongly unstable atmosphere. A cold front will help to ignite the air this afternoon and evening, with severe storms forming as a result.

The government's Storm Prediction Center has issued a Slight Risk, a 2 out of 5 on the severe weather probability scale, for the Texas Panhandle to southwestern Nebraska. Cities such as Amarillo, Texas, Grand Island, Neb., and Dodge City and Salina, Kan., will observe threats for isolated severe storms with golf ball-sized hail and damaging winds in excess of 70 mph.

Toward the western banks of Lake Superior, a strong upper-level disturbance creates a separate area conducive for severe thunderstorms this evening.

A separate Slight Risk in northwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota could spawn isolated storms capable of damaging winds exceeding 60 mph, similarly large hail, and even a few tornadoes. Duluth, Minn., and nearby towns fall under this risk.

A larger Marginal Risk, a 1 out of 5, connects the two Slight Risk regions. A few severe storms carrying damaging winds and large hail could buffet cities like Colorado Springs, Colo., Omaha, Neb., Des Moines, Iowa, and Minneapolis.

Lastly, far away and in the Deep Southeast, another Marginal Risk covers the Alabama coast to far southern South Carolina. Here, including Mobile, Ala., Jacksonville, Fla., and Savannah, Ga., both a stalled front and a particularly moist air mass converge to favor a few strong thunderstorms with damaging winds.

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, while a warning indicates that those conditions are currently occurring. Be sure to have multiple ways to receive warnings. Also, take caution if you are outdoors during a thunderstorm. Remember, “When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!”