Severe Storms Fire From Oklahoma to Minnesota

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist

April 1,2015; 9:47PM,EDT

 

After spotty severe storms stretched from northern Texas and southern Oklahoma to parts of Georgia on Tuesday evening, a more widespread severe weather danger is targeting the central Plains 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.
Very spotty severe storms can erupt farther to the southwest from south central Kansas to western Oklahoma and part of west central Texas.
A small number of tornadoes could 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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A second area of thunderstorms has developed. These storms will be strong to locally severe from northeastern Texas to southern Missouri.

Cloud cover will limit the intensity of the storms somewhat in this zone, but a few communities from Dallas to Springfield, Missouri, could be hit with a drenching, gusty storm and isolated hail.
Locally drenching, gusty storms can also erupt along the central Gulf coast and drift northward over the lower Mississippi Valley at night.
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.
According to AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "The overall weather pattern moving forward over the next few weeks is favorable for multiple rounds of severe weather in the central and southern states, which is quite a change from what has been experienced during March."
AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski contributed content to this story.