Severe storms to threaten Oklahoma to Ohio

In the wake of a swarm of tornadoes in Iowa late Wednesday, severe thunderstorms and flash flooding are forecast to threaten areas along a 1,000-mile-long zone from western Oklahoma to northern Ohio into Thursday night.

From mid-afternoon to the early evening hours Wednesday, more than two dozen tornadoes were reported and at least one dozen have been confirmed by the National Weather Service office in Des Moines, Iowa.

There were no reports of injuries in the Iowa tornado outbreak, but there was damage to buildings and homes in some communities across the northern half of the state.

The tornadoes formed along a warm front over the central Plains states Wednesday. As of Thursday, that warm front has since lifted northward into Canada. However, showers and thunderstorms were indicated along an advancing weak cool front that stretched from the Texas Panhandle to central Ontario.

Into Thursday night the threat of storms will include the metro areas of Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Springfield, Illinois; St. Louis, Springfield and Kansas City, Missouri; Wichita, Kansas; and Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The threat of severe weather has ended for Des Moines, Chicago, Milwaukee and Omaha, Nebraska, AccuWeather forecasters say.

Storms will gain strength and severity as heat builds into the evening on Thursday, but torrential downpours and isolated flash flooding can occur at any time into the nighttime hours as this weak frontal zone slowly advances to the east. Heavy rain will be the most common output from the storms.

A small number of the strongest storms have the potential to produce a few isolated tornadoes anywhere along the 1,000-mile swath, but there is a zone where tornadoes may be a bit more concentrated as was the case in Iowa Wednesday.

As another weak storm system develops along the frontal zone, there is the risk of additional storms that can produce tornadoes. At this time the most likely area for more than just a random, isolated tornado is from eastern Kansas to central Illinois.

The most likely time for a few tornadoes will be from the late afternoon to the early evening hours. Soon after the individual storms mature, the threat will tend to shift to more of a straight-line wind setup rather than one conducive for tornadoes.

Into the first part of Thursday night, some of the storms are forecast to pack wind gusts as high as 75 mph, which is hurricane force. Winds this strong can easily knock over trees, lead to power outages and cause minor property damage. Where winds blast across highways, there is a risk that high-profile vehicles could roll over.

People living in or traveling through the region are urged to closely monitor weather alerts and changing outdoor conditions.

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Motorists are reminded to never drive through flooded roads as the water may be deeper than it appears and the road surface might have been washed away beneath the surface of the water.

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