Rounds of severe weather to bombard central US this week

May 23,2016; 8:14PM,EDT

 

 

Rounds of severe thunderstorms, including the potential for flooding rain and tornadoes, will continue to erupt over the central United States this week.
A couple of storm systems will travel slowly northeastward and will tap into a zone of building warm and humid conditions. The warmth and humidity will create an environment favorable for thunderstorms, while the circulation around the storm systems will increase the potential for dangerous severe weather.
The threats from the majority of the storms will be for damaging wind gusts, large hail, frequent lightning strikes and flash flooding. However, similar to Sunday, there may be a higher number of tornadoes, relative to other events this spring. Of the approximate 160 initial reports of severe weather, there were close to three dozen reports of tornadoes on Sunday.
"The warmth and high humidity available to the thunderstorms will continue the tornado threat through the week and could allow a couple of strong tornadoes to be on the ground for more than a few minutes each day," according to AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologist Alex Avalos.
The first storm system will continue to cycle northeastward through Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the threat for severe thunderstorms will first extend from central and western Nebraska, southward to west-central Texas, but will include a large part of Kansas and Oklahoma. Some of the storms will move into parts of Iowa and Missouri.
Multiple major cities will be at risk for severe weather on Tuesday, including Omaha, Nebraska; Kansas City, Missouri; Topeka and Wichita, Kansas; Oklahoma City and Wichita Falls, Texas.
The worst of the storms on Tuesday will be between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., when there could be multiple tornadoes on the ground.
RELATED:
AccuWeather severe weather center
The difference between tornado watches and warnings
Track the severe weather with AccuWeather MinuteCast®
The severe storms will continue to move eastward Tuesday night, although the intensity level of many of the storms should gradually decrease.
On Wednesday, the risk of severe thunderstorms will reach the middle and upper part of the Mississippi Valley, including portions of eastern Iowa, eastern Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin.

"While a small number of tornadoes may occur in the Midwest on Wednesday, the greatest chance of tornadoes will be in parts of central and northern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska," Avalos said.
Very spotty severe storms may erupt much farther to the west over the central and southern High Plains toward Wednesday evening, as the next system begins to roll out of the Western states.
The repeating nature of the storms will increase the threat of flooding.
This second storm system is likely to initiate yet another severe weather outbreak, including the potential for tornadoes over the Central states on Thursday and Friday.

The severe weather late in the week has the potential to be significant and dangerous.
The threat for severe weather will continue into Memorial Day weekend.