AccuWeather forecasters are monitoring a wet pattern and severe weather expected to spread from the Plains to the Tennessee Valley this week.
Published Aug 6, 2023 11:04 AM EDT | Updated Aug 8, 2023 5:04 AM EDT
AccuWeather forecasters are monitoring a wet pattern expected to continue across the central and eastern half of the nation this week. A potent storm is on track to emerge east of the Rocky Mountains by midweek, which can bring ample rainfall and thunderstorms from the Central to the Eastern U.S. through Friday.
“Another busy stretch of severe weather is expected along the Front Range and into the adjacent Plains this week as the weather pattern will remain conducive for explosive thunderstorm activity,” explained AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham.
Energy from the upper levels of the atmosphere will pulse eastward from Wednesday onward, igniting the potential for episodes of flooding rainfall as strong to severe thunderstorms rumble from the Plains to portions of the Tennessee Valley. As the pattern becomes more apparent in the coming days, all eyes will be on this zone for disruptive storms to develop later this week.
Additionally, forecasters say there will be some risk for severe weather along the Front Range into Tuesday night.
“During the late-afternoon hours across eastern Colorado and Wyoming, conditions will ripen for supercell thunderstorm development. These storms can produce large hail, damaging wind gusts and even tornadoes. As these powerful storms trek southeast into the nighttime hours, they can merge with other storms and become large thunderstorm complexes,” said Buckingham.
AccuWeather meteorologists have designated a moderate risk of severe weather that spans much of southern Nebraska to a large part of northern Kansas from Tuesday afternoon to Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, the best chances for thunderstorms across the Central states will ramp up again farther east across the Mississippi River Valley. In addition to modes of severe weather such as hail and damaging winds, a primary concern for any storms that develop around midweek will be excessive rainfall and elevated flood risk.
Cities such as St. Louis and Nashville will be in severe weather crosshairs on Wednesday. Following thunderstorms that drenched the St. Louis area over the weekend, the city has already observed over half of its typical monthly rainfall. Additional rain expected to track over the region this week could mean increased chances for the observed precipitation amounts to rise to the August historical average of 3.38 inches by mid-month.
Widespread regions of the Central U.S. from the Dakotas to Missouri are currently facing moderate to extreme drought levels, with a few locations categorized to be in exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Although rainfall across this region will benefit late-season crops, dry soils and parched lawns, it can come at the risk of flash flooding if quick-moving storms drop torrential rain across the area. Runoff can be increasingly likely across regions that have exceptionally dry soils. Area streams and rivers could become elevated due to flooding rainfall in storms later this week.
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As storms track eastward on Thursday, the threat of flooding rainfall and severe weather will eventually stretch into the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. Locations from southern Kentucky and Tennessee to the Carolinas and Virginia will be at risk for storms as the main piece of energy shifts eastward across the country.
Outdoor activities like long-awaited county fairs could be impacted later this week as thunderstorms develop from the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast. Even college student move-in events could be affected by the wet pattern setting up this week as many schools are set to kick off the academic calendar as early as Aug. 14.
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