Severe Thunderstorms Set to Roam the Northern Plains

Severe weather may be found across the northern Plains tonight, with these storms slowly progressing east and reaching the East Coast by the early to middle part of next week.

A brutal heat dome continues to be parked over the central U.S., causing dangerously hot temperatures from the Gulf Coast and Mexico northward to the U.S.-Canadian border. Meanwhile, a cold front will be pushing across the northern Plains, bringing with it relief from these scorching temperatures of the past several days.

Colder, drier air along the cold front will clash with this hot, humid air mass today. This will cause strong to severe thunderstorms bubble up along and ahead of this front tonight as it pushes southeast into a steamy environment. The strongest thunderstorms are expected across far east-central Minnesota and much of Wisconsin, where the government's Storm Prediction Center has issued an Enhanced Risk (level 3 out of 5 on the severe storm scale) for severe weather. This will include Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay, Wis., and Duluth, Minn.

There will also be a good chance for dangerous thunderstorms across southeastern South Dakota, northeastern Nebraska, much of Minnesota, northern/eastern Iowa, far eastern Missouri, all of Illinois, northern/western Michigan, much of Indiana, western Kentucky, and north-central Tennessee. This is where there is a Slight Risk (level 2 of 5 on the severe storm scale) of severe storms. Cities within this Slight Risk include Sioux Falls, S.D., Minneapolis, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Marquette, Wis.

The extremely hot temperatures in place, in some places reaching a scorching 100 degrees this afternoon, are likely to provide the energy needed to cause these quick-developing storms. These thunderstorms could contain strong wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph. In addition, hail and a few tornadoes are also possible.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for this evening across southeastern Ilinois, southwestern Indiana, western Kentucky and parts of central and western Tennessee. 

This cold front will continue to progress southeastward over the beginning part of the new workweek. Severe weather will be possible across the Great Lakes Monday, the Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday and New England on Wednesday. 

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 occuring late tonight. Also, take caution if you are outdoors during a thunderstorm. Remember, “When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!”