Minnesota to Oklahoma: Locally severe storms to close out this weekend

Another round of dangerous thunderstorms will take aim at the Plains as the weekend comes to a close.

The thunderstorms will tend to be isolated in nature into Sunday night. However, any thunderstorm that develops can turn severe in a matter of minutes.

A storm system that first unleashed wind, rain and snow out West is tapping into building warmth as it emerges over the Midwest on Sunday.

“While a widespread severe weather event is not expected into Sunday night, any isolated storm clusters that do develop will likely be severe with a few tornadoes, wind gusts to 70 mph and local flash flooding,” AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologist Brian Koochel said.

The threat area encompasses stretches of Interstate 29, I-35, I-44 and I-70.

Koochel anticipates these threats to be greatest from eastern Kansas into northwestern Missouri, eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

However, the severe weather risk will not stop at the border of Iowa and Minnesota.

Locally severe thunderstorms will also threaten southern Minnesota and neighboring Wisconsin.

"While the strongest thunderstorms will produce all modes of severe weather along the I-90 corridor, there may be thunderstorms capable of producing hail as far north as Minneapolis and Eau Claire, Wisconsin ," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rossio said.

An isolated severe thunderstorm can also erupt southward to near Oklahoma City, while locally gusty thunderstorms can whip central Nebraska and north-central Kansas by sunset.

Long and short-term travelers should be prepared to face near-zero visibility in the worst thunderstorms and pooling of water on roadways.

Those taking advantage of the warm weather outside should keep an eye to the sky and stay abreast of local severe weather watches and warnings. Seek shelter indoors or in a car as soon as thunder is heard or lightning is seen to avoid a life-threatening situation.

Unlike recent severe weather events which have spawned tornadoes and wind damage from the Plains to the East Coast, this round of thunderstorms will fail to make significant eastward progress.

"Severe thunderstorms with damaging winds will press eastward to Davenport, Iowa, on Sunday night, but will weaken before tracking over much of Illinois," AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions Storm Warning Meteorologist Richard Schraeger said.

A broad high pressure system across the East, which is contributing to the major warmup, will act as a shield and tend to break up the thunderstorms into two main areas.

One cluster of severe thunderstorms will threaten Texas on Monday afternoon, as a second area of locally heavy and gusty thunderstorms erupts from Lower Michigan to central Illinois. This includes Chicago and Kalamazoo, Michigan.

At the same time, rain that will mix with or change to snow will spread from southern South Dakota to central Minnesota to start the new week. A narrow zone of 1-3 inches of snowfall is expected.

"The highest amounts will be on grassy and elevated surfaces as the snow will initially melt on the warm pavement," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski said.

"Roads will mostly be wet except for where the snow falls heavily for a time and allows slushy conditions to develop."

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