Heartland braces for renewed threat of more tornadoes, damaging hail and wind just days after fatal storms
Portions of those areas will see another chance for severe storms on Tuesday, continuing into the evening, with a Level 3 out of 5 threat centered over Illinois.
Severe storms to target areas hit by the recent tornado outbreak
Another severe weather system will target the Heartland Tuesday night, bringing renewed threats of hail, damaging winds and possible tornadoes to areas still recovering from the recent tornado outbreak. A Level 3 out of 5 severe weather risk has been issued for parts of the region. FOX Weather Meteorologist Michael Estime breaks down what’s happening:
Severe weather season is wasting no time as another round of severe storms targets the Heartland by midweek, bringing renewed chances for strong winds, damaging hail and possible tornadoes.
This will come just on the heels of a deadly, multi-day severe weather outbreak that ripped through Texas, the Plains, and the Midwest before it charged towards the Great Lakes and the Northeast.
Portions of those areas will see another chance for severe storms on Tuesday, continuing into the evening, with a Level 3 out of 5 threat centered over Illinois.
The deadly storm system spanned more than 1,500 miles—from the Northeast to Texas—and impacted over 90 million people.
At least 12 tornadoes ripped through the Heartland between Thursday and Saturday, ranging in strength from EF-0 to EF-3, claiming the lives of eight people and leaving communities devastated in their wake.
An upper-level disturbance over northwest Mexico is forecast to move northeast into the Southern Rockies and eventually the High Plains on Tuesday.
Simultaneously, a separate system moving across the northern U.S. will intensify over the central part of the country, and when these two systems start to interact, winds higher in the atmosphere will pick up from the southwest.
RELATIVE DETAILS THE MOMENTS MOTHER AND DAUGHTER WERE TRAGICALLY KILLED IN OKLAHOMA TORNADO
As this setup will help pull warm, humid air north from the Gulf of America, dew points in the 60s are expected to spread across much of Texas, Oklahoma, and eastern Kansas, and eventually extend into the Mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.
In turn, this will create a broad warm sector across the region — an area of warm, unstable air — that can support strong thunderstorms.
MOTHER, DAUGHTER TRAGICALLY KILLED DURING SEVERE WEATHER IN OKLAHOMA AMID MULTI-DAY OUTBREAK
Within this large zone, there is a narrow corridor being monitored in Illinois and Missouri, where a level 3/5 threat is located.
A broader Level 2 out of 5 threat expands from Lake Michigan down to the Texas-Mexico border.
The FOX Forecast Center said, at the surface, two low-pressure systems are expected to take shape.
One may develop near the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, while another forms farther north from northwest Missouri into Iowa.
A dryline extending south from the Plains low will separate very dry air to the west from warm, humid air to the east. Meanwhile, a warm front is forecast to extend from southern Iowa into northern Illinois and Indiana by the afternoon.
While there is still some uncertainty about the exact placement of these boundaries, with the overall environment featuring strong winds at multiple levels of the atmosphere — helping promote rotating storms — along with plenty of moisture and moderate instability, it's favorable for widespread severe thunderstorms.
With the storms that form Tuesday afternoon potentially becoming supercells, large to very large hail is possible.
DEADLY TORNADO DEVASTATES UNION CITY, MICHIGAN, CARVING A PATH OF HEARTBREAKING DAMAGE IN COMMUNITY
As the evening progresses, the risk for tornadoes will likely increase close to the warm front and where the dryline, warm front, and cold front intersect.
It is the areas from parts of Missouri into Illinois within the Level 3 out of 5 threat that will see the highest tornado threat.
The severe weather threat is expected to continue well into Tuesday night as a strong low-level jet develops.
This will continue feeding warm, moist air into the storms even after sunset, likely triggering thunderstorms to remain active and severe across parts of the region overnight.
These storms also bring the risk of flash flooding, with portions of the Heartland seeing a Level 2 out of 4 threat.
Stick with FOX Weather for more details as they become available on the latest severe weather threats.