Severe thunderstorms to target Midwest, East with damaging winds into Tuesday
Rounds of thunderstorms will rim the edge of an expansive heat dome across the central United States, bringing severe weather to portions of the Midwest and Northeast into the last days of July.
When severe weather strikes, it’s important to know how to respond. AccuWeather’s Jon Porter shows how you can plan in advance with the free AccuWeather app before stormy weather hits your area.
Severe weather will begin to ramp up this weekend into early next week, bringing the risk of damaging wind gusts, hail and flooding downpours. This comes as record-challenging heat builds across the West.
"As storms move along the northern edge of a heat dome across the Plains, the risk for severe weather late this week into early next week is expected to focus along a corridor spanning from northern portions of the Plains through the Midwest, Great Lakes and eventually into the Northeast and mid-Atlantic," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.
Individual thunderstorms on Saturday night will be widely separated from eastern Montana through South Dakota. However, any storm that does form will pose a risk of hail and very strong wind gusts upwards of 65 mph.
Farther east, a few storms capable of producing hail and damaging wind gusts will move through the Upper Midwest, disrupting outdoor weekend plans. A handful of tornadoes cannot be ruled out in this area into Saturday night.
On Sunday, storms are expected to become somewhat more widespread as the threat expands across the Midwest.
"With an ample amount of heat and humidity to feed off of, the set up for thunderstorm activity could feature powerful complexes of thunderstorms capable of producing wide swaths of damaging wind gusts," Buckingham said.
Thunderstorms are expected to develop across eastern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin before quickly advancing southeast into the Great Lakes, likely evolving into a mature complex of storms by Sunday evening. Damaging wind gusts, flooding downpours and hail are all expected hazards with this system. The AccuWeather Local StormMax™ is 85 mph.
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The severe weather risk will continue into Monday, with the greatest risk centered over the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley.
Strong storms will bring the risk of hail and damaging wind gusts capable of downing tree limbs, causing sporadic power outages. Any thunderstorms can impact outdoor plans with frequent lightning and flooding downpours. The most widespread activity is expected to occur later in the afternoon onward, disrupting the evening commute.
"Day-to-day thunderstorm activity can sometimes rely on where previous rounds of thunderstorms develop, which makes pinning down the exact location of the highest risk for severe weather difficult until just a matter of hours before storms form," Buckingham added.
Still, areas in the mid-Atlantic from Raleigh, North Carolina, to New York City will be at risk for severe storms on Tuesday. Hail, damaging wind gusts and flooding downpours will impact travel in the area, especially along the Interstate 95 corridor.
Heavy rain from Tuesday to Tuesday night will increase the risk of flash flooding for much of the Northeast. Areas north of the severe weather threat, including Buffalo, New York, and Boston, are expected to receive prolonged heavy rainfall that could lead to flooding.
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