Major central US metros at risk for severe weather early week
Severe thunderstorms moved across the Plains through Monday night. Behind the stormy conditions, AccuWeather forecasters say the record warmth will retreat.
AccuWeather’s Tony Laubach breaks down the differences and explains why there are technically two different starts to the spring season.
As the first full week of March kicks off, AccuWeather meteorologists correctly forecasted the risk of severe thunderstorms ramping up across a large zone from the Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes Monday and Monday night.
The arrival of meteorological spring on March 1 also marked the opening of severe weather season in the United States. Severe thunderstorms can happen at any time of the year, but the components for powerful storms come together most frequently in March, April and May across the central U.S.
Potent thunderstorms developed Monday across major metros
Storms initiated across Wisconsin and Illinois southward into Missouri Monday into Monday night.
Farther to the south into Monday night, a separate branch of the storm swung eastward across eastern Texas and the lower Mississippi Valley. Thunderstorms began to bubble up across this zone throughout the daytime, lasting into the overnight across eastern Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.
Severe thunderstorms brought plenty of hail and gusty winds across these regions.
The storm intensity and coverage ramped up after sunset from Texas to the lower Mississippi Valley. Strong thunderstorms will continue to track eastward through this region into Tuesday morning, continuing the threat for torrential rainfall, strong wind gusts and hail.
Many locations across the Plains contended with early May-like temperatures ahead of the stormy conditions Monday. Temperatures Sunday challenged daily record temperatures and soared between 15-30 degrees Fahrenheit above the historical average.
In major cities such as Chicago, temperatures continued their upward trend into early this week, rising to near 70 Monday afternoon. High temperatures in Indianapolis climbed well into the 70s on Monday afternoon.
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“Many times when there is a cold front or zone of low pressure moving into a region with record (or near-record) warmth, it raises concern for severe weather,” explained AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Adam Douty.
Douty added that this was the case last week with the severe storms that developed in the Midwest and Ohio Valley and was the case again Monday.
Warmth to recede across the Midwest, Plains behind storms
By Tuesday, cities like Chicago are forecast to trend cooler than recent days and daytime temperatures are only expected to be near 50. By the start of the upcoming weekend, daytime highs are projected to decline even further into the 40s for Chicagoland. Temperatures in cities like Indianapolis are expected to follow a similar trend, with highs in the 40s by Saturday.
Damp and stormy conditions will continue to push eastward into the Ohio Valley and Southeast by Tuesday. The heaviest downpours can occur along the Gulf coast states from New Orleans to Panama City, Florida, into Tuesday night.
The zone of low pressure will advance to the Eastern Seaboard by midweek, bringing wet weather from the interior Northeast and portions of New England to Florida in the form of rain, showers and thunderstorms, depending on the location.
Through Thursday, this feature will continue to shift northeastward from the southern Appalachians to the Northeast coast, drenching the Interstate 95 corridor as it tracks offshore.
Forecasters warn that there is some risk for wintry weather to mix in on the storm's rear flank as it pushes off the Northeast coast. If cold enough air is swept southward out of Canada into parts of New England from Wednesday night into Thursday, residents could potentially see snowflakes return later this week.
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