Severe storms, high winds to threaten central US into Saturday evening
Severe thunderstorms will erupt over parts of the northern Plains and eastern slopes of the Rockies, keeping residents on alert into Saturday evening.
The greatest risk of severe thunderstorms will extend from parts of northwestern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba, Canada, to western Kansas and eastern Colorado.
While there can be an isolated tornado anywhere along this swath, there is a greater chance of such an occurrence on the southern end over the central Plains.
The most common threat from the storms will be strong wind gusts. The AccuWeather Local StormMax™ for wind will be near 70 mph.
At this force, trees can be toppled, property damage can occur and the power may be knocked out.
High-profile vehicles such as trucks, motor homes and buses could roll over.
Downpours will also accompany many of the storms.
Any thunderstorm that lingers for more than a few minutes will have the potential to cause flash flooding, regardless of how dry or wet the ground may be.
Residents of Galveston, Texas, were treated to a beautiful sight on June 5, as skies lit up bright yellow and orange.
The bulk of the storms will occur to the northwest of areas that have been hit the hardest with heavy rain and flooding in recent weeks.
The storms are being produced by a slowly advancing push of cool air from western Canada and the northwestern U.S.
The same setup produced a few dozen incidents of strong winds from the northern Rockies to the Great Basin during Thursday afternoon and evening.
Trucks were blown over, trees were toppled and sporadic power outages occurred from northern Montana, northern Utah and central Nevada.
The storm then slammed some communities from the central High Plains to North Dakota with hail and damaging winds later Friday.
Download the free AccuWeather app to receive severe weather warnings as soon as they are issued for your area. Keep checking back for updates on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
