Chicago, St. Louis, Little Rock and Des Moines are in the tornado and hail bullseye on Tuesday. Storms will continue to rumble overnight delivering an early threat.
are firing off this week across the Plains and , bringing the potential for baseball-sized , damaging gusts, and heavy downpours across America’s heartland.
April is typically the , and this year is no exception. The month has already featured its share of damaging storms, and that active pattern is expected to continue heading into the second half of the month.
This week, a multiday threat is unfolding across areas from Texas to . The first round of storms kicked off late Monday across the Plains. The threat shifts eastward into the Midwest on Tuesday. By Wednesday, scattered thunderstorms roll into the Ohio Valley and mid-South.
(FOX Weather)
Tuesday’s threat centered over Iowa, northern Missouri, Illinois, northwestern Illinois
An kept storms at bay for most of Monday, but the atmosphere became more primed for severe weather overnight and into Tuesday.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has posted a of severe weather Tuesday across portions of the Midwest. The SPC warned of the potential of EF-2 tornadoes or stronger, wind gusts up to 70 mph and tennis ball-sized hail.
(FOX Weather)
“The atmosphere certainly would support hail up to 2.5 inches in diameter,” Shawn Jacobs, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in , Nebraska, told FOX Weather. “And, you know, those hailstones can fall at over 100 mph. So you certainly don’t want to be caught outside in a hail storm producing 2.5 in hail.”
A second round of severe weather gets started Tuesday afternoon into the evening and pushes farther east.
(FOX Weather)
in Illinois faces a Level 2 out of 5 risk, along with Kansas City and in Missouri and in . Northeast Missouri, eastern Iowa and northwest Illinois are in a Level 3 out of 5 threat.
While that region might face the greatest threat of damaging storms, the overall severe weather risk on Tuesday encompasses more than 47 million people from southern and southern through northeastern and northwestern .
Thunderstorms move into Ohio Valley, southern Michigan by Wednesday
On Wednesday afternoon, scattered thunderstorms are possible across parts of , , , and . The SPC issued a Level 2 out of 5 risk for areas of Indiana, Ohio and and.
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Once again, the timing for storms begins Wednesday afternoon and will continue into the evening hours.
The highlighted area may experience a mix of severe hazards, including hail, wind, heavy rain and tornadoes.
Only eastern Oklahoma remains in the Level 2 of 5 threat for Thursday.
Heavy rain could lead to flooding in some areas
The FOX Forecast Center expects intense downpours with these storms through midweek, with 1-2 inches of rain possible in places like Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin. Isolated areas in northwestern Iowa could see up to 4 inches of rainfall locally.
This increase in moisture over a short period of time will create the ingredients for potential in some areas.
(FOX Weather)