Severe storms this week - Slow moving system brings big risks

As we have been warning since last week, this will be an active week for severe weather, especially along the central Plains. Let’s dive into the forecast.

There are over 15 million people at risk of severe weather on Monday, and on Tuesday it jumps to over 25 million people at risk. There is an upper-level low that will exit the Rockies and will inject all the energy to make the plentiful warm and moist air coming in from the Gulf of Mexico interact with a drier and cooler air mass coming down from the Rockies in the lower levels of the atmosphere. All ingredients are there for severe storms to ignite during the late afternoon into the overnight hours.

The main threat lies over Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota with a level 3 out of 5 on the severity scale. Moisture levels will struggle to increase during the day but inevitably will get high enough to fire the severe weather overnight, which includes the risk for tornadoes, hail, and damaging winds of at least 75 mph. The risk continues through Tuesday morning. See our WeatherRadar to track the storms.

Over Oklahoma and Texas, there will be some clouds that will keep the temperatures from warming enough to ignite storms in the afternoon. Still, the atmosphere will get unstable enough toward the latter part of the afternoon and the main risk will be large hail falling over parts of northwest Texas. Watch out for the storms that will move toward north-central Texas as these could also be severe and bring the threat of large hail tornadoes and damaging winds.

On Tuesday, the risk for severe weather moves slightly east with an enhanced risk, level 3 out of 5, affecting southeast Iowa, northern Missouri, and western Illinois. But there is also the risk of covering a large portion from the southern Great Lakes through the Corn Belt and the Middle Mississippi River Valley where organized storms could produce hail, winds of at least 75 mph, and tornadoes.

Our team of meteorologists will closely monitor the development of storms and bring prompt updates on our app and social media platforms. Stay tuned and informed.