WeatherFanatics: Storms to Take Aim at Omaha, St. Louis and Chicago

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Storms to Take Aim at Omaha, St. Louis and Chicago

By Brian Lada, Meteorologist

June 21,2014; 8:16PM,EDT

Severe thunderstorms will take aim at portions of the Plains and Midwest during the first official night of summer.
Early Saturday evening, strong storms moved into the Chicago region bringing heavy rains and strong winds. Chicago O'Hare International Airport reported 0.9 inches of rain in 20 minutes and flash flooding remains a concern. The start of the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field has been delayed.
Showers and thunderstorms remain in the forecast for much of the North Central states through Saturday evening, but severe storms will focus on two areas over the region.
One area will set up from Nebraska to much of South Dakota and part of North Dakota. The other area will reach from eastern Iowa to portions of Missouri and Illinois.

The primary threats from these storms are anticipated to be damaging wind gusts as strong as 70 mph and hail measuring as large as baseballs.
Flash flooding is also a concern, especially around Iowa where locations have already picked up more than twice the amount of rainfall that they typically receive in all of June.
With the ground already saturated, it will not take much rainfall to spark flash flooding in these areas.
Those living near streams or rivers should keep an eye on water levels as they may rise above the banks and flood areas close by.

Any thunderstorm that tracks over Omaha, Nebraska, whether it be severe or not, could result in more delays at the NCAA College World Series being held in the city. Storms dumped inches of rain on Omaha Friday evening and left over 14,000 people without power for a time.
On Friday night, Game 12 of the tournament was suspended due to inclement weather and is scheduled to resume on Saturday at 3 p.m. EDT.
Residents of Nebraska that were hit by storms on Friday could get hit again on Saturday night as storms track across the state.
RELATED:
AccuWeather.com Severe Weather Center
Interactive Radar
Which Outdoor Activities Top the Charts for Lightning Perils?
The threat for severe weather will continue over the central Plains on Sunday with showers and heavy thunderstorms spanning across the region.
An area stretching from eastern Wyoming through the Oklahoma Panhandle appears to be the area most likely to have storms that produce damaging winds and hail. This area includes the city of Denver.
Similar to the storms on Saturday, thunderstorms that track around Iowa on Sunday will bring a heightened risk of flash flooding.

On Social Media

Tweets for this article AccuWeather Updates