After rounds and rounds of flooding downpours brought record rainfall and serious flooding danger to portions of the southern Plains and Mississippi Valley this week, AccuWeather forecasters say a different threat will develop in the center of the country this weekend. Severe thunderstorms are set to rumble to life across portions of the High Plains on Saturday and Sunday.
While this is good news for parts of Texas and Louisiana that were inundated with over a foot of rainfall this week, it is bad news for some residents of New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, and the Dakotas.
A large area of cold air in the upper levels of the atmosphere will continue to spin slowly across the Intermountain West this weekend and produce showers, thunderstorms, and mountain snow, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Mike LeSeney.
In the same area, strong winds rushing at the jet stream level of the atmosphere will provide the necessary ingredients for severe weather this weekend.
The most likely area for these ingredients to come together is in the lee of the Rocky Mountains, from eastern New Mexico across eastern Colorado into Wyoming.
“These thunderstorms will initiate over the higher terrain, but then quickly move out of the mountains and into the High Plains,” LeSeney said.
On Saturday, portions of New Mexico, western and northern Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, and far southeastern Wyoming will be at risk for these severe storms. While locally heavy downpours can be a threat with almost any strong-to-severe thunderstorm, the more prevalent threats on Saturday will be of the wind and hail variety.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
“As these thunderstorms move out into the Plains they will drop large hail, produce damaging wind gusts and perhaps spin up a few isolated tornadoes,” LeSeney explained.
Large hail is defined as having a diameter of 2.0 inches or greater, which is about the same size as a chicken egg or a lime. Hail of this size can begin to do significant damage, especially to vehicles or temporary structures.
“The focus for these severe thunderstorms will shift northward on Sunday and impact mainly eastern Colorado and eastern Wyoming into western Kansas, western Nebraska, and the western Dakotas,” LeSeney said.
When compared to Saturday, the coverage of severe storms is forecast to be more widespread on Sunday. Large hail will once again be a threat on Sunday, as will damaging wind gusts. Torrential downpours are also possible in the most feisty storms on Sunday.
“Wind gusts to an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 80 mph in the most severe storms can certainly lead to power outages and tree damage in some communities, but even motorists will want to take note of this hazard,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Renee Duff explained. “Such winds are strong enough to blow over high-profile vehicles on the open highway.”
Another threat with Sunday’s storms will be isolated tornadoes. Anyone living in the impacted areas on Sunday should be sure to have multiple ways to receive important weather warnings for their specific location, like the AccuWeather app.
Places like Rapid City, South Dakota, and Bismarck, North Dakota, will be at risk for damaging storms on Sunday. Travelers across portions of interstates 80, 90, and 94 will need to keep an eye to the sky for rapidly changing conditions on Sunday.
While the storms will pose hazardous for some, they will also bring needed rainfall to a parched region of the nation. Much of the northern Plains, from the Dakotas into eastern Montana, is in severe to extreme drought according to the US Drought Monitor.
“Parts of the region where the worst drought conditions persist could pick up an inch or two of rainfall through Sunday night,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sojda said. “While not enough to eliminate such severe drought, it will help.”
AccuWeather forecasters note that the weekend will not be the only time period for severe weather, but also needed rainfall in parched parts of the central United States in the coming days. Rounds of scattered severe storms are forecast to continue to rumble to life across portions of the Plains each day through at least the early week.
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN