Stormy Weather on Tap for Plains and Midwest for End of Week

People living in the Plains states and Upper Midwest are being told that the weather won’t be very accommodating for any outdoor weekend activities people may be planning. The National Weather Service is warning that a large storm system is moving into that part of the country and that it will likely bring with it heavy rains, strong gusting winds, hail, lightening and even the possibility of tornado activity.

Friday will feature unseasonably warm temperatures in the Midwest as the mercury pushes to the 80 degree range. However, overnight Friday and heading into Saturday, cloudy skies will drop the temperature and give way to thunderstorms. High school and college football games scheduled for the end of the week may need to be canceled as severe weather could prevail.

The Storm Prediction Center said late Wednesday that a strong cold front will move into the Midwest Thursday night bringing with it a chance of rain and thunderstorms to cities such as Indianapolis, Toledo and Detroit. The center said that it expects the chance of a tornado developing in this part of the Midwest minimal as the main weather threat will be strong winds in excess of 50 miles per hour and heavy rain. However, it also stated that the threat of tornado activity will increase if there is a lot of sunshine late Thursday afternoon as the heat from the sunshine would make the atmosphere less stable.

As people in the Plains and Midwest are preparing for severe thunderstorms that will likely bring heavy rains and high winds, residents of the Rockies will be bracing for Winter Storm Atlas that is going to dump a considerable amount of snow as it impacts Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota and parts of Nebraska. The early October winter storm is expected to dump six inches or more of snow that will be blown around by high winds which will make travel dangerous. Blizzard conditions could occur in portions of Wyoming, northern Colorado and the Black Hills of South Dakota from late Thursday into Friday night due to the unusual early fall snowstorm. The National Weather Service said late Wednesday that snowfall amounts could reach twelve inches for the mountains of Idaho, west and south Montana and northern portions of Colorado.

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