Ohio & Tennessee Valley to See Considerable Rainfall
A very active weather pattern took shape in the center of the US at the end of last weekend. That weather pattern has set the stage to bring significant rainfall and thunderstorms to areas of the Ohio and Tennessee Valley Thursday and Friday. The greater part of the central portion of the country was wet and windy Wednesday with periods of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms. The unstable weather system moving across the country’s midsection is meeting a cold front as it pushes northeast to increase the risk of severe thunderstorm activity for the Midwest.
Some portions of the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys could see isolated large hail, damaging winds and even a few tornado outbreaks Thursday and Friday. Steady rain put an end to the ALCS playoff game in Detroit Wednesday afternoon. The game was rescheduled for Thursday but forecasters are saying that the Motor City may be in for more steady rain to further push back Game 4.
The weather system that is moving into the Central and Midwest states is delivering a shot of chilly air which will be somewhat of a shock for some areas that have seen highs in the 70s and 80s. Temperatures will be around 30 degrees cooler in some areas Thursday and Friday compared to earlier in the week. Conditions can be downright miserable from the eastern Dakotas into the northern portion of Iowa with strong winds, cold temperatures and periods of heavy rainfall. To make things even worse, the cold temperatures, rain and high winds moving eastward into the Great Lakes could be accompanied by a combination of hail and snow.
Wind gusts nearing hurricane strength hit the Plains earlier this week. That storm system is spreading blustery, chilly conditions into the Ohio Valley. Some areas in Ohio and Michigan could see winds gusting as high as 60 miles per hour Thursday along with steady rain to make being outdoors very unpleasant to say the least. Winds of that strength can easily take down tree limbs and cause power outages. Some of the crosswinds could cause airport delays as well.
Rain is desperately needed by farmers but it will not be enough to make a dent in the overall drought conditions heading into winter. What the rain will do instead is slow down harvesting of soybeans and corn. On the bright side, the temperatures will not dip below freezing so farmers will have time to work the fields before real winter weather sets in.