Brewing storm to fuel severe weather threat in Midwest, South as potential blizzard lashes Plains
CHICAGO â The FOX Forecast Center is tracking the next spring storm system sweeping across the U.S. that could bring severe weather to portions of the Midwest and South this week, including cities like Chicago and Indianapolis, while a potential blizzard brews over the Plains on the system’s colder side.
Forecasters said that while severe storms are possible, they wonât be anywhere near the extent of what took place last week when a deadly severe weather outbreak tore across Americaâs Heartland and South that left at least 42 people dead from Texas to North Carolina.
And it’s not only severe weather that has forecasters concerned. The FOX Forecast Center is also tracking a possible blizzard that could blast portions of the Plains with snow and high winds.
The warm side of the storm system is expected to produce some strong to severe thunderstorms in portions of Nebraska and Iowa on Tuesday night, which is the same region that could also see near-blizzard conditions as the storm intensifies and pulls in colder air from the north.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) placed this region in a level 1 out of 5 risk on its severe thunderstorm risk scale. The threat zone includes cities such as Omaha, Nebraska, and Des Moines, Ames and Dubuque in Iowa.
The FOX Forecast Center said the primary concern from storms that develop Tuesday night will be hail.
More severe weather is expected on Wednesday, with the threat extending from portions of the Midwest southward to Alabama and Mississippi.
Forecasters said strong winds aloft could produce enough wind shear â the change in wind speed and direction with height â to allow for some of the storms to rotate. However, the FOX Forecast Center said that the risk will be mitigated by limited low-level moisture and atmospheric energy.
The storms are expected to fire up in the early to mid-afternoon hours on Wednesday. Some supercell thunderstorms could develop and form into a fast-moving cluster centered from portions of eastern Illinois to western Indiana.
Strong to severe wind gusts with some large hail will be the primary concerns, but a tornado cannot be ruled out.
Right now, the SPC placed more than 12 million people in the region in a level 2 out of 5 risk of severe weather, including cities like Chicago, Aurora and Joliet in Illinois and Indianapolis in Indiana.
The severe weather threat also extends into the Tennessee Valley and Deep South, which were just impacted by the deadly tornado outbreak. However, due to unfavorable conditions, the threat isn’t as extreme as it was over the weekend.
The storm is first expected to move into the central Plains on Tuesday, bringing a mix of heavy snow and strong winds, leading to potential blizzard conditions in a region that experienced the same winter weather last week.
The FOX Forecast Center said the storm will rapidly strengthen as it tracks into the Midwest from the Rockies, bringing widespread snow and strong winds on the backside of the storm system.
Snowfall rates could reach 1-2 inches per hour in the heavier snow bands that set up.
Warm ground temperatures may limit snow accumulations at first, but roads are expected to quickly become snow-covered, which would then lead to dangerous travel conditions.
The highest accumulations are expected from Nebraska to Michigan‘s Upper Peninsula, which could see a foot or more of snow.
Winds are also a concern, and the FOX Forecast Center said gusts could reach as high as 50-60 mph.
Snow is expected to wind down by Wednesday afternoon.
Winter weather alerts stretch across the region, including Blizzard Warnings from Kansas to Minnesota.
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