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Extreme Fire Weather Concerns; Severe Thunderstorms from the Plains to Mississippi Valley

Extremely critical fire weather concerns for portions of the southern High Plans as strong wind and very dry conditions could result in rapid spread of any fires. Meanwhile, severe thunderstorms are expected once again across areas of the Central and Southern Plains, then spreading in the Mississippi Valley regions on Monday. Damaging winds, very large hail and strong tornadoes are possible. Read More >

Overview

Thunderstorms rapidly developed over northern Iowa Monday afternoon and organized into a powerful line of wind producing storms that surged through the Quad Cities and into northern and central Illinois through the evening hours.  These storms brought widespread damaging winds up to 100 mph for many locations extending from eastern Iowa, much of Illinois, and into Indiana.  The Storm Prediction Center has classified this event as a "Derecho" which by definition is a swath of wind damage at least 400 miles long and at least 60 miles wide including several well-separated significant wind gusts over 75 mph.  For more information on derechos, click here. Corridors of significant wind damage occurred along Highway 20 and in the Cambridge/Kewanee area. 10 tornadoes also occurred with these storms in the NWS Quad Cities service area.  

In addition to the wind, very heavy rainfall fell in a short amount of time with many locations seeing over an inch.  The highest totals fell in McDonough and Warren counties in Illinois where amounts between 2 and 3 inches fell.  

 

KMZ file of tornado paths and damage swaths can be found here.

 


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