An impressive storm over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands has sent a powerful southward dip in the jet stream which will hit the continental U.S. Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing severe weather, including possible tornado threats.
The Weather Channel reports that the cold air mixed with warmer, humid air in the lower levels of the atmosphere could produce severe thunderstorms. They also state that since this weather prediction is a few days early, that it is uncertain to measure the level of the tornadic threat.
The main threat from severe thunderstorms are gusting winds, hail, flash flooding, and the possibility of tornadoes. The tornadic threat level can range depending on how unstable the air mass becomes, which is something that cannot be easily predicted. Winds are expected to pick up in the midsection late Tuesday, with sustained winds of up to 40mph by Wednesday with gusts at 50 to 60 mph or more.
Regions on the northwestern part of the storm will see high winds and snow. Colorado and Kansas were placed under blizzard watches and high wind watches were issued for Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas, according to ABC News.
November has seen its fair share of severe weather in the past. Nearly two years ago, 72 tornadoes made their way through 7 states.
According to the Associated Press, six people have been killed in connection with the flooding in Texas and at least two are missing as severe weather swept across the Gulf Coast.
In the Houston area, some areas received nearly 12 inches of rain since Friday though it had mostly stopped by Saturday afternoon, and starting around 5 a.m. CT Saturday six tornadoes touched down south and east of Houston.
The storms and suspected tornadoes, which forecasters say were caused by an upper-level disturbance from Mexico, socked an already-sodden swath of Texas that was still drying out from the remnants of Hurricane Patricia.
Homes were underwater and power was out on Saturday to over 12,000 people. Several roads have been closed due to floods and damage.
The weather patterns are showing no signs of letting up as a new system is developing today that will be trouble for areas in Texas already saturated by rain.
“Rain and thunderstorms, heavy enough to prompt new flood concerns, will develop across the Plains Thursday and linger into Saturday for parts of the region,” said AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Andy Mussoline.
Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas will experience rain and thunderstorms Thursday, but concern is growing that a front associated with the system may stall out over eastern Texas heading into the weekend.
The National Weather Service says that Monday could bring afternoons and evenings of severe weather to almost 50 million Americans.
The predictions for heavy rain, damaging winds and lightning stretches from the deep south through Wisconsin.
The storms struck some parts of the Midwest early Monday as Chicago’s O’Hare airport had to close for a short period during the morning rush hour. Additional storms are expected through the evening at O’Hare.
Weather Channel lead forecaster Kevin Roth said “quite a few states” will be affected and that while many will not see a tornado, severe thunderstorms with damaging winds could be a distinct possibility.
Straight-line wind damage was seen in Belleville, Wisconsin where a home weather station reported a 74 m.p.h. gust. At least one roof was taken off a home in that town. WE Energies reported 30,000 customers without power in the region.
All weather experts reviewed for this story urge anyone who receives a weather warning tonight or tomorrow to seek shelter immediately as the storms are very dangerous.
A series of tornadoes swept through Colorado Thursday night destroying three homes and damaging over two dozen others.
Officials say there were no injuries reported in the outbreak.
One of the storms brought so much rain that it caused a sinkhole 15 feet deep that swallowed a police cruiser. The officer inside at the time was able to escape without serious injury.
The homes were destroyed in Berthoud, about 40 miles north of Denver.
“It was probably on the ground two minutes,” Scott Oliver, who lives in northern Boulder County, told The Daily Camera newspaper. “It was just kicking up everything. It was terrible.”
“You just wouldn’t believe how many hailstones we had,” resident Dan Grabosky told NBC. “And the continuous roar of the lightning and thunder. It was just awful.”
“It was just a whirling mass,” he said. “It was coming for my home, and God stopped it.”
One forecaster with the Weather Channel reported he had received reports of hail the size of grapefruit.
The rain continued through the midwest bringing flooding to Kansas City.