Rounds of severe storms to target Plains, Midwest into midweek

By Michael Doll, Meteorologist

September 6,2016; 9:00PM,EDT

 

 

Rounds of thunderstorms will bring damaging wind, hail and flash flooding to the Plains and Midwest through the middle of this week.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Rochester, Minnesota; and Omaha, Nebraska, are a few cities that are at risk into Wednesday.
The strongest storms can produce wind gusts past 60 mph, dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning and blinding downpours. These can cause travel delays on roads and at airports.

At midweek, the threat area will shift farther south and east. By late on Wednesday, thunderstorms will unfold from the Kansas City, Missouri, area to Moline, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Chicago and the surrounding suburbs are at risk from these thunderstorms on Wednesday night.
The most powerful thunderstorms on Wednesday into Wednesday night can again cause flooding downpours, high winds that can bring down trees and power lines and perhaps cause some minor damage to structures. Hail is likely as well.
Summerlike humidity will help fuel these thunderstorms over the next couple of days, which will produce significant rain.
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Some areas from southern Minnesota to southern South Dakota and northern Nebraska have already received 1 to 3 inches of rain since this past Sunday, and the ground is already saturated. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, several more inches of rain are possible across the Corn Belt.
Drivers should stay alert and watch for high water on the roads. Do not attempt to drive through a flooded road.
In some locations, a few inches of rain will fall in a short period of time. This could overwhelm storm drains and cause significant street flooding.
Some creeks and rivers could rise out of their banks and flood surrounding land.
As this storm system moves east later in the week, it will bring some thunderstorms to portions of the Northeast. However, they are not expected to be severe and will provide little relief from the July-like heat.