Severe thunderstorm watches extend over 1,000 miles from the Plains to the Tennessee Valley
A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for the Midwest
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued Friday for parts of the Midwest that were hit hard by Thursday’s tornado.
The FOX Forecast Center is monitoring the risk of storms on Friday that could move over some of the same communities affected by the derecho event just 24 hours earlier.
Strong to severe storms are expected to develop over the plains and move eastward during the morning and afternoon.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has issued several severe thunderstorm watches for the Plains across middle Tennessee due to the threat of large hail and wind gusts up to 75 mph.
A severe thunderstorm watch means that conditions are ripe for damaging thunderstorms to develop in and near the alerted area.
Hours include Kansas City, St. Louis and part of Metro Nashville.
DERECHO with 100 mph winds tearing through the Midwest leaving behind widespread damage
The FOX Forecast Center said plenty of moisture will be present as well as instability that will help support another long-lasting storm event.
SPC highlighted communities in more than a dozen states seeing an increased risk of severe storms that include hail and damaging winds.
Potential area for severe storms includes Lincoln, Nebraska; St. Louis, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; And Nashville.
This pattern is very similar to what happened over the past two days, where a ridge was parked over the central United States, forcing storms to move along its northern perimeter. This phenomenon is often referred to as the “ring of fire.”
“We have to watch out for some minor, isolated cases of flash flooding because obviously you had a lot of rain on Thursday, and more rain is going to increase the risk of flash flooding,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Kelly Costa said.
What is Derecho?
Recovery underway from a 500 mile derecho event
Utility crews continue to try to restore power to more than 500,000 businesses and homes left in the dark after Thursday’s round of severe storms.
The FOX Forecast Center said the event was a flyby that traveled more than 500 miles from eastern Nebraska through the Ohio Valley.
Along the way, SPC received hundreds of wind reports, and in some communities, wind speeds were estimated at 90 to 100 mph.
The devastating winds toppled trees and power lines and flattened crops.
Crop damage was reported in the Midwest after Thursday
A series of severe storms with damaging winds and consolidated tornadoes moved through Illinois and Indiana on Thursday. Meteorologist Andrew Pritchard said the damage was not as widespread as the avalanche in August 2020.
There were no initial reports of deaths related to the event, but several people were reported injured by falling trees.
Tracking a derecho during the summer is not an uncommon event. The National Weather Service estimates that 70% of all weather events occur between May and August.
Many weather observers compared Thursday’s event to the historic derecho that moved across the Midwest in 2020, causing an estimated $11 billion in damage.
“The damage is extensive, but at the same time not as bad as we saw in 2020,” said Andrew Pritchard, a local meteorologist based in Illinois. “And I think the biggest thing here is that we just need to finally break that pattern, and start letting some summer thunderstorm complexes in, because that’s the nature of the thunderstorms that we have in the summer in the Midwest. We need them because they bring the rain that we need during summer season”.
A cliff cloud moves across Charleston, Illinois, on Thursday. (Fox Weather)
