A strengthening storm responsible for severe weather and tornadoes in the South will produce an expanding area of strong winds from the northern and central Plains to the Midwest into Tuesday night.
This image, taken on Monday morning, Oct. 21, 2019, over the north-central
United States shows a classic comma shape in the cloud cover indicative of a powerful storm. (NOAA/GOES-East) The large storm - more typical of November - is unleashing drenching rain, thunderstorms, snow and cold air, and it will produce a high wind zone reaching 900 miles over the north-central United States.Stiff east to southeasterly breezes were already present over the central and western Great Lakes region on Monday.However, the strongest winds, blowing from the north and west, will charge across the Plains Monday night and Tuesday."Frequent gusts between 40 and 50 mph are in store with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 60 mph," Eric Leister, AccuWeather senior meteorologist, said.
"Gusts that strong can break tree limbs, cause localized power outages and inhibit travel," Leister said.Airline passengers should expect flight delays and cancellations, especially from Nebraska and the Dakotas to Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. As the gusty winds affect the major airports of Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis, ripple-effect delays can occur elsewhere across the nation.Winds over this same zone can also be very troublesome for high-profile vehicles such as trucks, campers and buses. With no mountain ranges and only limited forests in the region, there is little to stop the winds blowing across the highways.
Where winds blow across the Great Lakes, shoreline areas that face the wind can be subject to overwash and flooding.The storm producing the strong winds will also cause a batch of rain and embedded thunderstorms to spiral eastward.Thunderstorms over the Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes region will be locally heavy with strong wind gusts and bursts of torrential rain into Monday evening.Travel-slowing rain around Minneapolis,
Chicago and Indianapolis from Monday will reach Detroit and Toledo and Columbus, Ohio, on Monday evening.As rain whips eastward, snow is in store in the storm's coldest sector over the Plains. Snow falling in central South Dakota and north-central Nebraska on Monday morning will slowly shift northeastward with the storm into Monday night.However, the amount of snow from this storm will be minuscule, when compared to a storm from earlier this month. Snowfall will be on the order of a trace of slush to at most a couple of inches on grassy areas in a few communities.Patches of accumulating snow can occur in eastern North Dakota, northeastern South Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.The storm produced up to 4 inches of snow in the Black Hills of South Dakota with 2-3 inches falling on Rapid City, South Dakota, during Sunday evening.
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