Rounds of severe thunderstorms with torrential downpours and powerful winds will move from the Great Plains to the Midwest and Northeast this weekend and beyond.
According to AccuWeather meteorologists, the stormy periods will occur along the route of an active jet stream, which will mark the northern boundary of a moving heat dome into next week.
The pattern will continue for at least several more days, following a busy week with hundreds of severe weather reports from the Plains to the Atlantic coast, primarily consisting of high wind, some hail, and a number of tornadoes.
Heavy to severe thunderstorms will continue through Friday night from eastern Pennsylvania to the mid-Atlantic and New England coasts. Severe weather will be more concentrated between Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
A zone of torrential rains from showers and thunderstorms will stretch from the Texas Panhandle to southern Michigan and northern Ohio. Amarillo, Texas, experienced flash flooding as a result of the pattern on Thursday night. Since midweek, 2 to 4 inches of rain have fallen in parts of this zone, and more is expected to fall through Friday night, increasing the risk of additional flash floods.
Some thunderstorms will bring strong winds throughout Friday night across much of the heavy rain zone.
Some thunderstorms will bring strong winds throughout Friday night across much of the heavy rain zone.
Storms and flash flood risk will persist on Saturday.
On Saturday, fresh storms will threaten areas of the Central and Eastern states.
On Saturday, thunderstorms will be very strong over parts of the Plains. Storms with destructive hail, high winds, and flash flooding are expected to hit northeastern Colorado, eastern Wyoming, central and northeastern Montana, southeastern Saskatchewan, the western part of the Dakotas, and the Nebraska Panhandle.
Storms will be severe at least locally on Saturday, extending from northeastern Missouri and southern Iowa to southern Michigan, northern Ohio, and the southwestern tip of Ontario.
The major dangers to this zone on Saturday, which includes the Chicago and Detroit metro areas, will be downburst wind gusts and flash flooding.
On Saturday, a zone where thunderstorms may be less of a threat from damaging winds but still pose a significant risk of torrential downpours and flash flooding will extend southeastward through Ohio to West Virginia, Virginia, western and central Maryland, southwestern and central Pennsylvania, and northeastern Kentucky.
Storms will hit sections of Central and Eastern states on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon and evening, there is a chance of locally severe thunderstorms with downburst wind gusts and flash flooding extending from southeastern New England to much of West Virginia. Storms could disrupt traffic on major highways and cause delays at major airports in New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.
There is growing fear that a big complex of severe thunderstorms will form over North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota on Sunday and roll southeast for hundreds of miles to the beaches of Lake Superior and Michigan Sunday night.
Wind gusts with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 90 mph may occur, along with damaging hail.
More storms will likely deliver a punch next week.
On Monday and Tuesday, further waves of severe thunderstorms may pass across this area and reach hundreds of miles to the southeast. The severe weather threat will expand to parts of the Northeast.
A significant push of cool air from central Canada to the Great Lakes and Northeast next week will eventually bring an end to the thunderstorm pattern in most of the region, but it may exacerbate the thunderstorm danger further south in the Central and Eastern states.
