Severe Weather to Kick Off April in Central US

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist

March 31,2015; 8:07PM,EDT

 

 

After spotty severe storms stretch from northern Texas and southern Oklahoma to parts of Georgia on Tuesday evening, a more widespread severe weather danger will target the central Plains on Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday evening.
Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Island, Nebraska; Topeka, Salina and Emporia, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; and Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa, are among the communities at the greatest risk for thunderstorms capable of unleashing large hail and damaging winds later in the day into the evening.
Very spotty severe storms can erupt farther to the southwest from late Wednesday into early Wednesday night from south central Kansas to western Oklahoma and part of west central Texas.
A small number of tornadoes be produced during the outbreak on Wednesday.
"I think that a line of storms will develop and become severe across central Nebraska and northwestern Iowa Wednesday afternoon," stated AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions Meteorologist Alex Avalos.

Severe thunderstorms should also fire northward to Mankato, Minnesota.
"That [line of severe weather] will move southeast and threaten Kansas City, Topeka, even Emporia and points east in Kansas overnight Wednesday," Avalos continued.
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Other cities in the threat zone Wednesday night include Dubuque, Iowa; La Crosse, Wisconsin; and Kirksville, Missouri.
Storms may fire up farther to the southeast on Thursday.
According to AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Bernie Rayno, "There is the potential for locally severe storms featuring strong winds, hail and perhaps a few tornadoes over the Ohio Valley to southeastern Oklahoma on Thursday afternoon and evening."

Rainfall from the storms on Thursday will reach an area where the ground is saturated and streams are running high. Portions of the Ohio and lower Mississippi valleys may have an uptick in flooding problems late this week as a result.
Fueling the impending severe weather will be the warmth set to build across the Plains at midweek. April is set to start with highs in the 80s throughout a large part of the central Plains.
A cold front slicing into this warmth will trigger the violent thunderstorms.
Wednesday is likely to be worse in terms of severe weather coverage than Thursday, but it only takes one violent thunderstorm or a lone tornado striking a populated area to cause damage and/or bodily harm.