Severe Storms to Slice Across Plains to End Saturday

By Chyna Glenn, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist

August 8,2015; 9:55PM,EDT

 

 

A slow-moving weather pattern across the western half of the United States has been the forcing agent behind the multi-day streak of severe weather across the Plains this past week.
Heavy rain, large hail and gusty winds have battered the Plains since the middle of the week and the threat for severe weather will once again emerge in the Plains to end Saturday.
The majority of the strongest thunderstorms will through Saturday evening, but an isolated violent thunderstorm passed through southwestern Missouri Saturday Morning.

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This violent thunderstorm blew down power lines and caused damage to some structures, according to first responders.
Other areas of concern for severe weather exists from the Montana-Wyoming state line into western South Dakota through Saturday evening, as well as in northern Minnesota.
AccuWeather Meteorologist Ed Vallee states, "A vigorous upper-level disturbance will move through Iowa Saturday afternoon [and evening]."
This disturbance will shoot across the Central states throughout the day Saturday and reach western Iowa by early Saturday evening. As this system moves east, showers and thunderstorms will increase in number as well as intensity.

Vallee explains,"This system will cause an eruption of strong-to-severe thunderstorms from late afternoon into Saturday night."
Omaha, Nebraska, and Sioux City, Iowa, will be the first to be impacted by torrential downpours and gusty winds from the eastward-progressing thunderstorms.
"These storms will initiate in western Iowa during the late afternoon and evening, and swiftly move across Iowa into western Illinois overnight," Vallee affirmed.
The secondary area of severe weather includes Rapid City, South Dakota and extends westward towards Billings, Montana and eastward toward Pierre, South Dakota. In this region, the severe weather threat diminishes soon after sunset.
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Thunderstorms will continue to rumble across the state of Iowa overnight. However, the threat for the damaging winds expected through the evening hours will begin to diminish.
Heavy rainfall is expected to continue through the evening, and the threat for flash flooding becomes the most dominant threat for Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa.
Storms will continue to weaken with the early morning hours on Sunday, and the threat for severe weather will continue to decrease for the second half of the weekend.