A major storm system will bring snow to the Rockies for midweek and a major severe weather outbreak to the Northern Plains. Large hail, high winds, and tornadoes will be possible from Minnesota down to the Oklahoma panhandle on Wednesday and Thursday.
As the storm develops, southerly winds will begin whipping up tomorrow. One of our models is giving us a sustained wind of 30-35mph on Thursday (with gusts near 50)! Now while that's going on, a squall line of thunderstorms is expected to develop over Iowa and move eastward.
The squall line will approach the Mississippi River around 1am on Friday with the Rockford metro impacted by daybreak. Now, keeping in mind that our winds will already be 30-35mph we have to take into consideration the forward momentum of the storms (around 30-35mph). This puts us in a prime location for some damaging wind potential! Even if these storms don't throw out any gusts on their own, we're in for 60-70mph winds. Factoring in a few gusts would suggest that 70-80mph winds wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility!
I don't expect this to be nearly as bad as the July 5, 2003 wind event, but we need to pay attention to the weather nonetheless over the next few days. -ERIC
2 comments:
hey eric. if these storms did hit and produce the winds you are thinking, about what time in the monring do u think it would hit. I have to work at 7am. thanks
Storms arrive in the Mississippi counties around 7pm...Rockford area impacted 10pm. Just my thoughts right now. -ERIC
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