Go Back
  • For Business
  • |
  • Warnings
  • Data Suite
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising
  • Superior Accuracy™
24 dead, dozens of girls at camp missing after catastrophic flooding in Texas. Read the latest Chevron right
Tropical Storm Chantal forms in Atlantic before landfall in South Carolina. Get details Chevron right

Columbus, OH

91°F
Location Chevron down
Location News Videos
Use Current Location
Recent

Columbus

Ohio

91°
No results found.
Try searching for a city, zip code or point of interest.
settings
Columbus, OH Weather
Today WinterCast Local {stormName} Tracker Hourly Daily Radar MinuteCast Monthly Air Quality Health & Activities

Around the Globe

Hurricane Tracker

Severe Weather

Radar & Maps

News

News & Features

Astronomy

Business

Climate

Health

Recreation

Sports

Travel

For Business

Warnings

Data Suite

Newsletters

Advertising

Superior Accuracy™

Video

Winter Center

AccuWeather Early Hurricane Center Top Stories Trending Today Astronomy Heat Climate Health Recreation In Memoriam Case Studies Blogs & Webinars
Air Quality Alert

News / Severe Weather

Severe storms to hammer Midwest, Plains and parts of East

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist

Published Jul 15, 2020 3:19 PM EDT

Copied

Potentially dangerous, damaging and disruptive storms will erupt on a daily basis across portions of the central and eastern United States through Friday along the edge of a searing mass of hot and humid air spreading eastward across the country this week.

Hard-hit New England will catch a brief break from heavy storms into at least Thursday, after storms pelted the region with intense hail, winds and flash flooding earlier this week.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

Related:

7 lightning safety tips if you’re caught outside during a thunderstorm
How to protect your car from hail
Why trees topple in high winds
6 life-threatening tornado myths debunked
What you should do if you get stuck driving in floodwaters

Farther southwest, late afternoon and evening thunderstorms will develop and become heavy and gusty over the Front Range of the Rockies in southern Colorado and northeastern New Mexico on Thursday.

"Damaging wind gusts, large hail and flash flooding are expected with the strongest storms over the southern Plains early on Thursday night," AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologist Eddie Walker said.

Farther to the northeast during Thursday afternoon and evening, a swath of heavy, gusty and severe thunderstorms are anticipated from the middle Mississippi Valley through the Ohio Valley and on into the eastern Great Lakes and parts of the central Appalachians.

The most common threats will be from downpours that can overwhelm neighborhood storm drains and cause small streams to spill out of their banks.

The strongest storms can produce high wind gusts and isolated tornadoes from Ohio to northwestern Pennsylvania and western and central New York state during Thursday afternoon.

The storms on Thursday will affect cities from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Evansville, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Cincinnati; Huntington, West Virginia; Pittsburgh; and Buffalo, New York.

A few isolated heavy storms will also rumble over the Southeastern states, especially during the afternoon and evening hours on Thursday.

On Friday, locally heavy storms could affect much of the East Coast and parts of the South, but the greatest risk of violent storms on a regional basis will jump over a thousand miles farther to the northwest as a new cycle of severe weather begins.

Storms during Friday afternoon and night are likely to target areas from the Dakotas to Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin and parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The storm threat will not stop at the northern border of the U.S. but will also affect southern Manitoba, including Winnipeg, as well as far southeastern Saskatchewan and part of northwestern Ontario.

As has been the case with severe weather much of this week, the full spectrum of threats is likely with any storms on Friday, including hurricane-force wind gusts and the potential for a few isolated tornadoes.

People are encouraged to move indoors at the first rumble of thunder. Picnic pavilions and golf carts do not offer adequate protection from lightning, but a hard-top car or truck is considered safe if a building is not nearby. Experts recommend avoiding standing near trees, which extend well above the landscape and are often the closest target for lightning.

Motorists are urged to never drive through flooded roads as the water may be deeper than it appears or may still be rising, and to instead keep the National Weather Service slogan "turn around, don't drown" in mind. In some cases, the road surface may have been washed away beneath the water.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

Report a Typo
Comments that don't add to the conversation may be automatically or manually removed by Facebook or AccuWeather. Profanity, personal attacks, and spam will not be tolerated.
Comments
Hide Comments

Weather News

Weather News

24 dead in Texas, 25 girls from Camp Mystic missing in flooding

Jul. 5, 2025
video

Rescuers save person clinging to an electric pole amid Texas floods

Jul. 4, 2025
Weather News

Record sargassum seaweed piles up on Caribbean islands, Gulf

Jul. 2, 2025
Weather News

Alabama teen in ICU after lightning strike hits boat, causing burns an...

Jul. 2, 2025
Show more Show less Chevron down

Topics

AccuWeather Early

Hurricane Center

Top Stories

Trending Today

Astronomy

Heat

Climate

Health

Recreation

In Memoriam

Case Studies

Blogs & Webinars

Top Stories

Weather News

24 dead in Texas, 25 girls from Camp Mystic missing in flooding

5 hours ago

Hurricane

Chantal to make landfall in South Carolina Sunday morning

2 hours ago

Severe Weather

Severe weather to rumble in the central US through the holiday weekend

8 hours ago

Severe Weather

Storms kill 3 in New Jersey, knock out power across Northeast

1 day ago

Weather Forecasts

Heat, humidity return to the East

2 hours ago

More Stories

Featured Stories

Weather News

Wildfires are tearing through a popular tourist hotspot in Greece

1 day ago

Weather News

‘Shark Whisperer’ swims its way into our shark obsession

19 hours ago

Travel

Fourth of July gas hasn’t been this cheap since 2021

4 days ago

Weather News

What makes fireworks burst with vibrant colors?

20 hours ago

Health

There is no safe amount of processed meat to eat, new research shows

2 days ago

AccuWeather Severe Weather Severe storms to hammer Midwest, Plains and parts of East
Company
Proven Superior Accuracy About AccuWeather Digital Advertising Careers Press Contact Us
Products & Services
For Business For Partners For Advertising AccuWeather APIs AccuWeather Connect RealFeel® and RealFeel Shade™ Personal Weather Stations
Apps & Downloads
iPhone App Android App See all Apps & Downloads
Subscription Services
AccuWeather Premium AccuWeather Professional
More
AccuWeather Ready Business Health Hurricane Leisure and Recreation Severe Weather Space and Astronomy Sports Travel Weather News Winter Center
Company
Proven Superior Accuracy About AccuWeather Digital Advertising Careers Press Contact Us
Products & Services
For Business For Partners For Advertising AccuWeather APIs AccuWeather Connect RealFeel® and RealFeel Shade™ Personal Weather Stations
Apps & Downloads
iPhone App Android App See all Apps & Downloads
Subscription Services
AccuWeather Premium AccuWeather Professional
More
AccuWeather Ready Business Health Hurricane Leisure and Recreation Severe Weather Space and Astronomy Sports Travel Weather News Winter Center
© 2025 AccuWeather, Inc. "AccuWeather" and sun design are registered trademarks of AccuWeather, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | About Your Privacy Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

...

...

...