‘Ring of fire’ thunderstorms to erupt on building heat dome in central, eastern US
Rounds of thunderstorms will form a "ring of fire" around a massive dome of building heat in the central and eastern United States into next week.
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As a major heat wave builds and takes center stage in the weather from late this week to next week, groups of severe thunderstorms will erupt on the edge of the dome of hot air, AccuWeather meteorologists advise.
The storms will take on a "ring of fire" effect, erupting first over parts of the northern Plains and Midwest, followed by portions of the Northeast and finally the Southwest and central Plains.
The intense high pressure and sinking air within a heat dome make it difficult for thunderstorms to form in large numbers. However, thunderstorms tend to erupt on the edges of the heat dome, as the high pressure area is weakest in these areas, allowing columns of air to rise and form towering clouds and gusty downpours.
Severe weather ramped up Friday night
On Friday, part of the same zone was affected by thunderstorms. As the heat dome expanded northward, it squeezed the zone of severe weather farther to the north.
Severe storms rolled through portions of the Dakotas and northern Minnesota, leading to widespread reports of damaging winds, and a few reports of hail and tornadoes. One storm produced a wind gust of 111 mph in south-central South Dakota.
Severe weather risk continues this weekend
Additional rounds of thunderstorms, including severe weather, will pester the northern edge of the heat dome along the United States/Canada border near the Great Lakes, expanding to New England as the weekend progresses.
It is likely that the same complex of thunderstorms that brings severe weather to part of the northern tier of the Plains and Midwest into Friday night, continues to move along for hundreds of miles through part of southern Canada during the day Saturday, and reaches northern New York and New England later Saturday and Saturday night.
It is possible this could evolve into a long-lived damaging wind event, called a derecho, as it travels from northern Minnesota to parts of Ontario and then into a portion of the Northeast.
Where the storms roll through, they will hold back the heating or perhaps delay it for another day.
If this thunderstorm complex holds together as it moves over the Atlantic, conditions next week could support the gradual development of a tropical rainstorm between Bermuda and the Carolinas.
Plains storms to return next week
"Farther west, on the opposite side of the heat dome, tropical moisture--some associated with Erick--will be drawn across New Mexico, Colorado and parts of the High Plains next week," Belscher said.
"Where a channel of moisture persists in parts of the Southwest, it could help ease drought and wildfire concerns," she added.
Both of these conditions will increase into this weekend as gusty winds and dry air sweep over the Southwest.
The core of the heat dome will tend to turn off the daily downpours and thunderstorms from much of the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic. However, as is often the case with the weather, there can be some exceptions.
Severe thunderstorms will erupt over portions of the Plains next week.
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