Active severe weather season continues in central US with more storms through the weekend
Thunderstorms packing damaging winds, hail and even tornadoes will remain a concern across the Heartland through the weekend and even beyond.
A tornado-warned storm produced large hail, some reportedly the size of ping-pong balls, in northern and central Minnesota. People in Sandstone, Minnesota, took shelter at a gas station on June 12.
Yet another busy period of severe thunderstorms is on tap for the nation's midsection into this weekend, warn AccuWeather meteorologists. Storms packing gigantic hail, destructive winds and even a few tornadoes are among the threats faced across more than a dozen states in the coming days.
Multiple weather systems will provide the catalyst for the threat of feisty thunderstorms into the weekend.
Multiple lightning strikes under a supercell thunderstorm at a ranch farm in Nebraska, USA. (Photo credit: John Finney Photography/Getty Images)
Even beyond the weekend, the threat of severe weather will persist, but it will shift as a heat dome builds into the Central states, likely bringing the hottest air of the season thus far. Long-duration thunderstorms packing damaging winds will be possible on the northern periphery of that dome, closer to the Canadian border, next week.
A region familiar with severe weather will be hit again through the weekend
There will be little rest for the storm-weary in the middle of the country as at least two storms moving in from the West will spark more gusty thunderstorms through the weekend.
Residents in the region are probably wondering why the severe weather risk has been seemingly never-ending since late April, and AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Bauer has the answer.
"This pattern is set up by blocking high pressure in the Northeast and an active storm track moving through the West," explained Bauer. "The longer the blocking high remains over the Northeast, the more prolonged the severe weather risk can extend in the Plains."
This bottlenecked weather pattern will promote additional rounds of severe weather in the nation into the early part of the week through the central Plains states and parts of the Midwest.
While chances of thunderstorms will lower in the Front Range by Saturday, they will increase in separate areas farther north and east. The same storm will bring at least some risk for severe weather from the northern Texas Panhandle to southern Minnesota, where thunderstorm wind gusts as high as the AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 80 mph will be possible.
In the meantime, a new storm emerging from the Canadian Rockies on Saturday has AccuWeather warning of a moderate risk for severe weather in parts of Montana, North Dakota and the Canadian Prairies later in the day and at night.
While the tornado threat in this risk area is low, it is not zero amid the strongest of storms. It is important that people who have outdoor activities scheduled should keep an eye to the sky and be prepared to seek shelter indoors.
But that's not it: more severe weather on tap next week
The threat of severe weather will not end on Saturday. Additional disturbances that are expected to move into the Central states will prolong the risk of damaging storms into next week, but their location is expected to shift.
Bauer, who is also a member of AccuWeather's long-range forecasting team, is expecting another storm to bring windy conditions from the Front Range to the Plains between Monday and Wednesday. It can also renew the risk of dangerous thunderstorms.
"This storm can draw heat and moisture up into the northern and central Plains, which will elevate severe weather concerns in the region," said Bauer.
Following that, AccuWeather's long-range forecasters are also expecting the same heat dome that will torch the Eastern U.S. with the hottest weather so far this summer to build into the Plains later next week. This would act to shift the storm track farther north, allowing potentially severe thunderstorms to move through in several rounds from the northern U.S. and southern Canada east into the Great Lakes region.
Additional reporting by AccuWeather meteorology intern Peyton Simmers.
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