2:21 PM ET 7 HRS AgoStrong tornadoes, giant hail threaten Plains as severe storms erupt Sunday
The threat of dangerous severe weather is ramping up across the Plains on Sunday, with forecasters warning that conditions could become increasingly volatile by late afternoon and evening.
The Storm Prediction Center has placed a large portion of the Central Plains and Middle Missouri Valley under a level 3 out of 5 on the agency’s severe weather scale. Areas included in the heightened threat zone include eastern Nebraska, northeast Kansas, northwest Iowa and southeast South Dakota.
Forecasters say the atmosphere across the region will become primed for severe thunderstorms as warm, humid air surges northward through the day. That moisture, combined with strengthening winds higher in the atmosphere, will create favorable conditions for rotating supercell thunderstorms capable of producing strong tornadoes and exceptionally large hail.
The greatest concern will develop during the late afternoon and early evening hours, when any storm that forms could rapidly intensify.
Meteorologists say the setup could support powerful supercells capable of producing hail large enough to cause significant damage, along with tornadoes that may become strong and long-lived.
As the evening progresses, the severe weather threat is expected to evolve. Individual supercells are forecast to merge into a larger line of thunderstorms as a strengthening low-level jet develops after sunset. Once storms organize into a squall line, the primary threat will shift from tornadoes to widespread damaging winds.
That line of storms is expected to push eastward through the evening and overnight hours, bringing the potential for destructive wind gusts across parts of the Plains and Midwest before gradually weakening later tonight.
Farther south, forecasters are also monitoring parts of western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle and Kansas near the dryline, where isolated severe thunderstorms may erupt late Sunday. While a cap of warm air aloft could limit how many storms develop, any storm that breaks through the lid could quickly become severe with massive hail and intense wind gusts.
Meanwhile, parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan could also see isolated severe storms near a warm front later Sunday if enough sunshine breaks through lingering cloud cover and helps destabilize the atmosphere.