More clusters of severe storms to pester Plains into Friday night

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist

Since little has changed in the overall weather pattern over the Great Plains since Independence Day, more individual and large clusters of severe thunderstorms will continue to drench and rattle the region into Friday night.

Some of the clusters born on Thursday will continue to crawl along into Friday evening, while new storms erupt along the small wakes of rain-cooled air generated by recent storms.

This will make precise forecasting of the timing and location of downpours nearly impossible beyond a few hours. However, the general area from eastern Wyoming, southward to eastern Colorado and eastward to southern Minnesota, southern Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and northern Arkansas will be at risk.

Some areas that were missed by storms on Thursday can be smacked by a storm into Friday night.

Many of the storms will produce downpours, brief gusts of wind and the usual lightning display.

However, some of the more robust storms will generate flash flooding, damaging wind gusts, hail and frequent lightning strikes.

A severe thunderstorm warning is not necessary for the potential to be struck by lightning. Move indoors at the first rumble of thunder. If no building is nearby, a hard-top metal vehicle is relatively safe from lightning. Picnic pavilions and tents do not provide adequate protection from lightning.

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Because of the slow-moving and repetitive nature of the storms, excess rainfall can occur over several counties, which can lead to small stream flooding and significant rises on short stretches of rivers in the region. While a general 0.50 to 1 inch of rain is likely, some communities can be hit with 2-4 inches of rain in as many hours.

Avoid camping right along the banks of small streams as these waterways are most likely to rise rapidly during a heavy rain event.

Farther south, a few isolated but big storms are also likely to erupt near the Oklahoma Panhandle and near the borders of New Mexico and Texas.

On Saturday, a press of dry air from the north will cause the overall area of showers and thunderstorms to shrink but also extend farther south into parts of the southern Plains that get missed on Friday.

A few incidents of large hail and isolated tornadoes can occur with the weather pattern.

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