Areas across the Midwest were expected to see an elevated risk of tornadoes, large hail and strong winds on Tuesday, the latest in a run of severe weather striking the region in recent weeks.
The areas most vulnerable to damaging storms stretch from Kansas City, Mo., to Milwaukee, with the highest probability of tornadoes and damaging winds across Iowa, including Iowa City and Davenport.
Here are some essential things to know.
-
Two rounds of storms are possible: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The storms later in the day are more likely to have tornadoes.
-
Hail the size of golf balls is possible, most likely in areas including Kansas City, Omaha and Des Moines.
-
Damaging wind gusts above 75 miles per hour will become more likely as the storms evolve into a line across southeastern Iowa and Northern Illinois.
This region has been no stranger to tornadoes this year, including reports of tornadoes in the Chicago Metropolitan area. There have been over 150 preliminary reports of tornadoes in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri so far this year. Most of those reports occurred before May and June, which are typically the peak period for tornadic weather for these states.
There is some uncertainty about how much the morning storms may affect the storms that are expected to form in the afternoon. The morning storms could end soon enough that the weather conditions will rebound, and there will be enough energy for damaging storms to occur during the afternoon hour.
The risk of severe storms will persist into the Upper Great Lakes region overnight into Wednesday morning.
