Severe storms are back in the forecast this weekend across the central U.S., with a hail storm threat and the chance for damaging winds and tornadoes from Oklahoma to Iowa. The risk runs every day from Thursday through Monday, and many of the same areas hit in March and April could be in the line of fire again.
On Thursday, strong storms are likely in eastern Kansas, northern Missouri and parts of neighboring states. By Friday, a few strong storms are possible in the Central Plains. Cities that need to stay weather aware stretch from northern Texas to southeastern Nebraska, including Kansas City and Wichita, Kansas. The storm threat then looks to hit many of those same areas again on Sunday, when the danger zone stretches from the northeast portion of the Texas Panhandle to southwestern Wisconsin, putting Des Moines, Kansas City and Omaha in the watch area.
That broad swath matters because it covers a region that has already absorbed severe weather in March and April, and the next round could arrive before people have fully recovered. The storms are expected to form along a dryline, a boundary that can help ignite severe weather when warm, moist air meets hot, dry air. A storm system is also expected to move across the central U.S. on Monday, though the Storm Prediction Center has not yet issued a polygon for that day.
The forecast is still subject to change, but the pattern is a familiar and dangerous one for May. No other month comes close on average to May for tornado activity across the Lower 48, and the season has the ingredients it needs: a strong jet stream that adds shear, cold fronts that create lift, daily spring heating that fuels instability and moisture surges from the Gulf. The East also holds plenty of moisture, giving storms one more ingredient to work with. For towns from Oklahoma to Iowa, the answer is simple: the severe weather threat is real now, and it is expected to keep coming through Monday.
