Severe storms to focus on Plains states through Father's Day weekend

Yahoo

20 hours ago

The greatest risk of severe weather through the Father's Day weekend will be over the Great Plains, near the edge of moist air to the east and dry air to the west, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
People with travel or outdoor plans through the weekend are encouraged to stay up-to-date with the weather. As thunderstorms grow, conditions can quickly change during the late afternoon and evening hours. As a general rule, "if thunder roars move indoors."
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Much of the thunderstorm activity may be widely separated over the vast open places of the Plains. However, some storms may gather to form large groups where more severe weather can occur and move along over considerable distances.
Into Thursday night, severe weather associated with a jet stream storm will focus a bit east of the Plains from the mid-Mississippi Valley to the upper Texas coast. These storms can be especially drenching as they will be in the thick of moist air from the Gulf.
Farther west, thunderstorms will extend along a 1,200-mile-long zone from West Texas and central and eastern New Mexico to central and eastern South Dakota. Some of the strongest storms in this zone can bring large hail and wind gusts ranging from 60-80 mph.
On Friday, the threat of severe thunderstorms will extend across the central and northern High Plains.
From Friday afternoon to Friday evening, a greater concentration of severe weather is anticipated from the Nebraska Panhandle to central Montana. Once again, large hail and powerful wind gusts will be the greatest risks to lives and property.
Yet another round of severe thunderstorms is forecast for the same general area of the High Plains on Saturday.
Even though Saturday's severe thunderstorms during the late-day and nighttime hours will be widely separated, the risk will extend for nearly 1,000 miles from the Oklahoma Panhandle to northern Montana.
The Saturday evening storms will bring the risk of a few tornadoes, as well as the same potential for large hail and powerful wind gusts.
On Father's Day, the severe weather threat will expand farther to the east across the northern and central Plains.
On Sunday, the storms will advance eastward as a solid line, broken line segments or perhaps a large cluster.
The storms on Father's Day will carry the full spectrum of severe weather ranging from powerful wind gusts to hail, flash flooding and perhaps a few tornadoes.
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