Severe weather will flourish as heat dome breaks down
As a more routine pattern of summer heat and humidity follow a massive heat wave, many areas will notice an increase in thunderstorm activity and new areas may be affected by severe weather that have experienced little.
From the Upper Midwest down to the High Plains, windy storms provided some heat relief from June 23-24.
While extreme heat will be on the wane in the coming days, the atmosphere will remain ripe for thunderstorms--some of which will become severe for several hours during the afternoon and evening hours in various parts of the central and eastern United States, AccuWeather meteorologists advise.
As the heat dome shrinks and weakens, thunderstorms within the lingering hot and humid air will become more organized. Meanwhile, thunderstorms on the outer rim of the heat will continue but also make significant advances to the east and south.
This means that many areas that have dodged thunderstorms over much of the last five days or so may get in on brief torrential downpours, gusty winds and flurries of lightning strikes.
For example, some residents in State College, Pennsylvania, were greeted by a thunderstorm on their way to work or having breakfast Wednesday morning--a sign that the heat dome, which brought rain-free weather for several days, is wavering.
Most of the thunder and downpours into the weekend will focus on common sources of summer storms like weak fronts, sea breezes, ripples in the jet stream and mountains.
Lightning flashes above the grandstands prior to a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Pocono Raceway, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
The following days and regions are expected to have a more focused area of severe weather, with storms capable of producing high wind gusts, frequent lightning strikes, flooding downpours, hail, and, in a few rare cases, a tornado.
Wednesday evening's storms became severe across parts of the mid-Atlantic and Southeast bringing numerous reports of downed trees and power lines. Farther west, severe thunderstorms moved through the Midwest overnight bringing a handful of tornado reports.
There were many localized damaging wind reports throughout the eastern U.S. on Thursday, including flash flood warnings from slow-moving thunderstorms. Much of the same is expected on Friday over a similar area.
Another pocket where downpours will continue to repeat will be over portions of the central and northern Plains and part of the Upper Midwest, with eastern Nebraska and Iowa generally smack in the middle. Impressively, Grand Island, Nebraska, has picked up 7.13 inches since Wednesday. More is on the way and while that may be good for crops in drought areas, too much can lead to flash flooding.
Looking farther ahead, severe thunderstorms Friday are most likely to occur, at least at a localized level, from central and western Nebraska, northward through the Dakotas, northwestern Minnesota and parts of southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada.
The same boundary between cool air to the east and very warm and humid air to the west will set up over Virginia on Friday, similar to the way it is forecast to develop farther to the north-northeast on Thursday in Pennsylvania. Likewise, the risk of repeating downpours and flash flooding will exist.
While spotty thunderstorms in the Southern and Eastern states can pulse to become severe Saturday afternoon and evening, another concentration of severe weather is forecast for parts of the northern Plains once again.
This area could evolve into a large complex of severe weather and begin to cover considerable ground over the North Central states later Saturday night with high winds and torrential downpours.
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