Severe Storms with Damaging Winds and Tornadoes to Hit the Central United States This Coming Week

Severe storms are expected to wreak havoc over the Central United States in the coming week from Monday, August 29, according to AccuWeather forecasters.

Associated weather hazards include damaging winds and tornadoes which can potentially cause widespread travel disruption amongst travelers at airports across the region.

Flash flooding due to heavy rain is also possible.

The severe weather risk could reportedly start as early as this weekend.

The forecasters indicated that the cities of Omaha, Nebraska and Minneapolis, Minnesota could experience intense thunderstorms by the evening of Saturday, August 27.

They urged residents to follow the latest weather alerts, including watches and warnings, to avoid being caught off guard by the looming weather event.

Most parts of the Central US have been under a relatively calm weather recently.

It was the same time when inclement weather battered areas from the Southwest, to the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley in recent weeks.

It caused flash flooding in multiple cities including Las Vegas, Nevada; Dallas, Texas; and Jackson, Mississippi, resulting in massive disruption and several casualties.

Since the spring season this year, thunderstorms have led to several incidents of weather phenomenon, with tornado outbreaks being the greatest threat among them.

Meteorologists and climate scientists alike both attributed the occurrence of such adverse weather due to persistence of heat, moisture, and humid air, which have been considered as recipes for the generation of storms.

Multiday Severe Weather Threat

(Photo : Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

AccuWeather Meteorologist Adam Sadvary explained the current warm and humid air in the region will make an approaching storm system to fuel the jet stream, which will serve as the final drive necessary for the said thunderstorms to quickly develop.

Related forecasts have been made in parts of eastern Nebraska, northwestern Iowa, and western Minnesota by the late afternoon of Saturday.

The initial forecast of the severe thunderstorms could pose a flash flood risk, downpour of hail, and occurrence of damaging wind gusts between 55 to 65 miles per hour.

This also followed the latest weekend forecast of the National Weather Service (NWS), predicting isolated to scattered storms that could produce torrential rain across parts of the north-central Plains and Upper Midwest.

Also Read: Severe Weather, Powerful Thunderstorms Bring Possible Air Travel Disruptions Throughout Northeast This Week

Thunderstorm Occurrences

There are approximately 16 million thunderstorms recorded worldwide each year.

In the US, there are around 2,000 thunderstorms in progress, while roughly 100,000 of them transpiring each year across the North American country alone.

Amongst these figures, 10% of them reach the severe levels, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The NOAA adds thunderstorms commonly occur during the spring and summer seasons, especially during the afternoon and evening hours. 

However, they can also occur throughout the year and at any time.

Also called as convective storms, these weather events are specifically caused by moist air rising from the earth relative to the atmospheric condition that time.

There were 1,376 thunderstorm-triggered tornadoes reported across the US in 2021, killing over 100 people, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III), which is headquartered in New York.

Related Article: Severe Thunderstorms, Flood will Soak Northeast Region Monday Through Thursday