Severe Storm Threat to Span Central US Sunday Into Monday

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist

July 4,2015; 7:30PM,EDT

 

 

An advancing cool front will be the trigger for strong and locally dangerous thunderstorms from northwestern Minnesota to northeastern Colorado during Sunday.
Storms will push farther along into the Midwest and southern Plains on Monday.

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While excessive heat will not occur in advance of the storms, highs in the 80s will be sufficient enough with building humidity to form towering clouds and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening.
Sunday
According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski, the strongest storms will be capable of producing damaging winds, hail and flooding downpours.

"I am especially concerned for a zone of flooding rain to evolve across eastern South Dakota and into central Minnesota on Sunday night," Pydynowski said.
Storms on Sunday can affect the metro areas of International Falls, Minnesota; Fargo, North Dakota; Sioux City, South Dakota; Omaha, Nebraska; and Denver.
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Significant wind shear may be present. Wind shear is when wind speed increases significantly higher up in the atmosphere and can be especially favorable for severe storm development when surface winds blow from one direction and winds aloft roughly blow perpendicular to the surface winds. The wind shear can be enough to cause thunderstorms to rotate. Rotating storms have a greater chance of producing a tornado than non-rotating storms.
As a result few of the strongest and longest-lived storms could produce a tornado Sunday afternoon and evening over parts of the northern and central Plains.
Monday
The risk of severe weather will continue to advance to the east and south on Monday.
While some of the storms will survive into Monday morning, the storms will get new life from heating of
the day on Monday afternoon and evening.
The potential for severe thunderstorms will extend from upper Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois to Kansas and perhaps parts of western Oklahoma and northwestern Texas.

Cities in the path of the gusty and drenching storms which could become severe at the local level include Green Bay, Wisconsin; Chicago, Rockford, Illinois; Des Moines, Iowa; Kansas City, Missouri; Wichita, Kansas; Clinton, Oklahoma; and Amarillo, Texas.
The greatest threats from the storms on Monday will be for damaging wind gusts and flash flooding.
People continuing to celebrate the Independence Day weekend through Sunday and beyond and plan on spending considerable time outdoors should monitor weather bulletins and keep an eye out for rapidly changing weather conditions.
The latest weather bulletins including severe weather and tornado watches and warnings are available at the AccuWeather.com Severe Weather Center.