More severe weather to unleash dangers and disruptions across Midwest, Northeast
The thunderstorms will erupt along the northern rim of a massive heat dome sprawling across the nation, and the stormy weather will signal a change in the hot weather pattern.
Severe weather will take aim at the Midwest and Northeast this week, delivering intense rainfall, damaging wind gusts, hail and possibly tornadoes.
Following potent storms that cut power to hundreds of thousands of households in recent days, AccuWeather meteorologists warn that additional rounds of dangerous, disruptive and damaging thunderstorms will affect the Midwest this weekend.
The thunderstorms will erupt along the northern rim of a massive heat dome that began to sprawl over much of the nation to end this week.
Hot weather will help to set the stage for the volatile weather, and highs will challenge or exceed the hottest temperatures set so far this season across more than a dozen states in the central United States into Saturday. Widespread highs in the 90s F are in store with some locations approaching the 100-degree mark.
Most of the storms through Saturday will fire up along the leading edge of a push of much cooler air arriving from Canada. As this cooler air slices southward into the hot and humid air, towering clouds will develop and evolve into powerful thunderstorms.
Incidents of high winds, hail, torrential downpours and frequent lightning strikes are likely. Because of the lightning strike risk, even outside of storms that turn severe, forecasters urge people to move indoors at the first rumble of thunder.
In a few of the strongest storms, wind gusts can reach hurricane force (74 mph) and topple trees. Hail large enough to dent vehicles, damage crops and break windows is possible.
Rainfall at the rate of 1-2 inches per hour can quickly flood city streets and low-lying rural roads. In a small number of cases, a tornado is also possible.
On Saturday, the advancing front and daytime heating will again give thunderstorms a boost.
The Midwest portion of the severe weather threat Saturday will extend from parts of southern Indiana and northern Kentucky to central and southern Ohio and western West Virginia.
Farther to the east, storms will erupt and turn severe over portions of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, New Jersey, southeastern New York and southern New England. Residents and airline passengers in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati may have to deal with severe weather Saturday.
By Sunday, storms are likely to ignite and may become locally severe farther south across portions of southern Kentucky and Tennessee. Storms may also develop and become severe over portions of the central and northern High Plains on the western edge of the cool air.
In the wake of the cool front across much of the Midwest, temperatures will be shaved by 10-15 degrees. That will translate to highs in the 70s to near 80 across the Great Lakes region and the low to mid-80s in the Ohio Valley. Adding to the more comfortable conditions, humidity levels will be slashed substantially. Much lower nighttime temperatures are in store.
However, despite the push of cooler and less humid air coming this weekend, a familiar problem this season may return: wildfire smoke.
The northwesterly flow in the wake of the cool front will scoop up smoke from distant wildfires in western Canada and sweep it southeastward across large portions of the Midwest this weekend to next week. Where the smoke reaches down to the ground, poor to unhealthy air quality levels are likely.
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