Severe Weather Discussion - May 17

[weatherwunder]

Widespread Severe Weather Across the Midwest and East
by AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Christopher Beatty



A cold front will continue to push through the Midwest and southern Plains Monday night. Ahead of this front showers and thunderstorms will spread across across the region. As of 9:30 p.m. EDT, a large area of thunderstorm activity was located over eastern Iowa and southern Wisconsin, with a few thunderstorms developing across central Kansas. These thunderstorms will continue to move eastward tonight, and many will weaken as temperatures fall throughout the night. However, the low level jet is expected to be strong overnight, and coupled with the front pushing through the region thunderstorms will likely continue to develop near the Iowa and Missouri border, northeastward into western Michigan.


The southern Plains have a higher risk of severe weather development overnight as the low level jet interacts with the cold front pushing through the region. Severe storms are likely to develop tonight in portions of Kansas. Any of these storms may contain large hail, strong winds, and very heavy downpours.


Thunderstorms also cover a large portion of the deep South and Middle Atlantic Monday night. These storms developed mainly during peak heating on Monday afternoon, and will die out overnight as the boundary layer cools and the atmosphere becomes more stable. There is a slight risk of severe weather throughout these regions, but with minimal wind shear the major threat from these storms will be heavy downpours and strong gusty winds.