Severe storms to renew flooding, damaging wind threat in midwestern US at midweek

The latest round of severe thunderstorms packing heavy rain and high winds will roll across the Midwest and part of the Plains through Thursday.

The storms and downpours will affect some communities dealing with ongoing high water and still cleaning up from storms earlier this month. Travel will slow to a crawl as storms cross major thoroughfares, and airline delays will mount as storms approach the major hubs.

The locally severe storms into Tuesday night will extend from the western shores of Lake Superior to the High Plains near the borders of Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado. The major cities that may be hit by strong winds, large hail and flooding downpours include Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

An isolated tornado may be spawned by a few of the strongest storms from late in the day Tuesday to Tuesday evening. The greatest risk for a tornado includes, but is not limited to, east-central South Dakota and central Minnesota.

Following locally severe thunderstorms and downpours over portions of the Upper Midwest and northern Plains into Tuesday night, a concentrated area of severe storms is likely to erupt on Wednesday and roll eastward.

The storms that erupt on Wednesday and progress eastward and southward through Thursday will carry an elevated risk of damaging wind gusts and flooding. A few communities may also be hit with hail. The risk of a couple of isolated tornadoes will also exist.

"The storms will roll through a heavily populated area of the central United States and are likely to impact several major metro areas through Thursday," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Faith Eherts.

Cities potentially in the path of the storms during Wednesday include Des Moines, Iowa; Madison, Wisconsin; St. Joseph and Kansas City, Missouri; and Omaha, Nebraska. The storms will continue to roll along Wednesday night and may affect Chicago and Peoria, Illinois; Kalamazoo, Michigan; South Bend, Indiana; and perhaps part of the St. Louis metro area.

"People should be prepared for falling trees, power outages, flash flooding and travel delays as the storms move through," Eherts said.

Since some of the storms will move through at a fast pace, some people will be at risk for being caught outdoors and motorists may face rapidly changing conditions on the road, Eherts added.

The risk of dangerous storms and flash flooding will continue on Thursday but will focus on the Ohio Valley and part of the lower Great Lakes region.

Cities that may face travel disruptions and/or localized damage from torrential rainfall and strong wind gusts on Thursday include Indianapolis and Evansville, Indiana; Detroit; Toledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio; Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky; and Huntington, West Virginia.

The potential for severe thunderstorms and flash flooding will also expand into the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states on Thursday and Friday.

A large batch of cooler and less humid air will settle southeastward across the northern Plains and Midwest to end the week. This air will end the threat of severe weather for a two- to four-day stretch.