Strong Thunderstorms to Race Across Plains, Upper Midwest

By Chyna Glenn, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist

August 21,2015; 10:32PM,EDT

 

 

An active weather pattern will bring strong to locally severe thunderstorms to central Plains into Friday night before targeting the northern Plains and Upper Midwest on Saturday.
A slightly complex weather pattern will set up across the nation's interior and once again hit along the United States-Canada border, setting the stage for severe weather.
"The front that pressed into southern Texas Thursday and helped to bring more than 4 inches of rain to Weslaco, will retreat north Friday. This front will stall out along the Texas-Oklahoma border, allowing for gusty thunderstorms to develop along it," AccuWeather Meteorologist Courtney Spamer said.

The strongest of these thunderstorms will develop during the middle of the afternoon, strengthening to a line of storms that will move southeast and bring damaging winds and hail to the southern Plains.
Hail can be large enough to cause some damage to property, while winds can knock down trees and power lines.
Although there will be some strong thunderstorms into Friday night, the main severe weather event will hold off until Saturday.
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A more potent storm system straddling the Canada-United States border will be the forcing agent behind the strong storms that fire during the first half of the weekend in the northern Plains.
This system will dive south across Montana and North Dakota during the afternoon, bringing a cold front that will slice into a warm and unstable atmosphere.
The interaction between this front and the unstable air mass will give way to strong afternoon thunderstorms, capable of becoming severe.
"A strong cold front will move across the Upper Midwest and Plains Saturday, bringing strong thunderstorms from Minnesota through Iowa," AccuWeather Meteorologist Steve Travis said.

This system will continue to strengthen as it moves across the northern Plains during the afternoon and will bring the strongest storms to Fargo, North Dakota; and Omaha, Nebraska, during the first part of the afternoon, while holding off until the late afternoon and evening for Minneapolis.
"The strongest storms will fire up in the afternoon, continuing into the evening hours. The main threats will be large hail and damaging winds; however, there may also be a few tornadoes," Travis said.
The threat for severe weather will diminish into the second half of the weekend as the system moves on to impact the Northeast on Sunday and into the next workweek.
As this system departs, cooler air will be brought in from the north and conditions will become increasingly breezy on Sunday.