Tornado-warned storm moves through Central Ohio
Video from Caledonia, Ohio shows ominous looking clouds as a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado rolled through the state on Wednesday afternoon.
DETROIT – Wednesday will mark the third straight day of severe weather, and the focus for the worst thunderstorms shifts to the Ohio Valley and southern Great Lakes due to an eastward-moving cold front.
Several Tornado Watches have been issued from Central Ohio through Western Pennsylvania through sunset.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued a Level 2 out of 5 risk for portions of eastern Indiana, Ohio, southern Michigan, western Pennsylvania and western West Virginia. Severe weather is possible down into parts of the Southeast, as well.
Cities such as Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, Detroit in Michigan and Columbus and Cleveland in Ohio are home to larger populations within the Level 2 threat, affecting nearly 25 million people.
At least 17 tornadoes were reported in the Midwest on Tuesday, of which seven have already been confirmed by National Weather Service storm surveys. The strongest twister so far received an EF-2 rating south of Virgil, Kansas. Another tornado that struck south of Topeka, Kansas, injured at least two people when their RV was flipped over.
Damage has already been reported in Bucyrus, Ohio, where local police encouraged people to stay off the roads while crews attended to downed power lines and debris.
The SPC received dozens of reports of large hail and damaging winds from Michigan through the Buckeye State.
Significant storm damage reported in Bucyrus, Ohio
Severe thunderstorms rolled through western and central Ohio on Wednesday causing significant damage. Video shows the partial collapse of a roof at a local dollar store.
Powerful front brings next severe storm threat Thursday
Right after the system that produced severe storms during the first half of the week, a new system will dive out of the Rockies and bring a mess of storms and severe weather to the South while forcing down some much cooler air.
Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms capable of damaging winds, large hail and perhaps a couple of tornadoes are possible Thursday from parts of the lower Ohio Valley and into the southern Plains.
The SPC has issued a Level 3 threat for the areas of concern. The affected cities include St. Louis, St. Charles, and Florissant in Missouri, as well as Evansville, Indiana and Clarksville, Tennessee.
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The FOX Forecast Center said storms along the southern end of the cold front will be the most intense and could produce damaging wind gusts and large hail from southwestern Missouri into Texas.
The frontal system will slow down and possibly stall briefly from Friday into Sunday, resulting in repeated rounds of showers and storms from Texas into parts of the mid-South.
Most of this area has been rather dry recently, which should inhibit the overall flash flood threat. However, the repeated rounds of storms could produce localized areas of flooding.
As the cold front slides southward, much cooler air will drop south out of Canada, leading to some impressive temperature changes, the FOX Forecast Center said. Locations across the central and southern Plains that were in the 80s at the start of the week will see their highs struggle to get out of the 50s by Thursday.
“This cool air is going to get all the way down to I-20,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. “So if you live in the Gulf Coast, it’s not going to be you … drive up towards Shreveport, and you’ll feel it.”
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The cooler temperatures will gradually expand farther south and eastward into the weekend, with near- to below-average temperatures expected to reach everywhere east of the Rockies, except Florida, by this weekend. The coolest temperatures relative to mid-April averages will be found over parts of the High Plains, where high temperatures could be upwards of 15-20 degrees below average.
