Dangerous thunderstorms to rattle midwestern US Tuesday

By Renee Duff, AccuWeather meteorologist

February 27,2017, 3:03:26PM,EST

 

 Prior to midweek, severe thunderstorms with isolated tornadoes, damaging winds, downpours and hail will threaten areas from Ohio to Texas.

The thunderstorms are expected to be potent enough in terms of wind and hail to cause property, tree and power line damage in some communities.
The soaking nature of the thunderstorms will heighten the threat of localized flash flooding and street flooding.

Residents from Indianapolis to St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Memphis, Tennessee, will be in the crosshairs of the damaging thunderstorms late Tuesday and Tuesday night. Storms may even reach as far to the north as Chicago.
“A developing and intensifying storm system will slide east across the nation's heartland early this week,” AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologist Alex Avalos said.

Warm and humid air ahead of the storm will spark and add fuel to the severe thunderstorms.
“Thunderstorms will erupt across the Ozarks and the Lower Mississippi Valley late Tuesday afternoon and evening and spread east through the overnight hours into the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys into Wednesday,” Avalos said.
Into Tuesday night, portions of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee will be subject to the potentially destructive thunderstorms.
Avalos is concerned that the thunderstorms can produce strong, damaging wind gusts, large hail and localized flash flooding.
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A few tornadoes are also in the realm of possibility for a few hours after the storms fire on Tuesday, especially across Missouri, Arkansas and southern Illinois.
Since most of the storms may occur after dark, people should pay extra attention to weather bulletins. A cell phone with a weather application and severe weather alerts enabled can provide that information.
Motorists should be aware of drastic decreases in visibility, ponding of water on roadways and slower-than-normal commute times.

Delays may occur at major airport hubs until the thunderstorms have passed.
Drier and more seasonable air will sweep southward across the Plains and middle Mississippi Valley behind the soaking storms.
As the storm swiftly pushes eastward, the threat for severe thunderstorms will target areas from the Ohio and Tennessee valleys to the mid-Atlantic coast on Wednesday and Wednesday night.