Prolonged chance for severe weather next week

FARMERSBURG, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Residents in the Wabash Valley need to be “weather aware” next week as a round of storms could produce severe weather.

WTWO Chief Meteorologist Jesse Walker took to Facebook to provide a look toward next week’s chances for severe weather to hit the Wabash Valley.

“The bottom line is I think next week is going to get active, and so next Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we need to be weather aware,” Walker said. “To me right now its looking like Wednesday would be the most likely day that we would run into some strong to severe thunderstorms, but I’m just giving you a heads up.”

Walker explained that next week’s storm is expected to kick up on Monday night in the Wichita, Kansas area of the country. By Tuesday night the system is expected to cause some issues for our area, with the primary area of focus being in Missouri.

“This doesn’t mean there is GOING to be a tornado, just shows the areas that we’ll be keeping an eye out,” Walker said.

“Next Tuesday afternoon, we do have a lot of energy out in the atmosphere, so we could see some pretty good sized storms developing,” Walker said. “I kind of think Wednesday, may be the higher chance, not only here, but for a lot of the country.”

“Wednesday, at least on this model run, is looking like the day that has more energy in the atmosphere. This lifted index that we’re talking about would allow the air to really rise rapidly, and could be the peak of when we would see some storms.”

The severe weather risk continues into Thursday as well, in what Walker called a prolonged period where we could see multiple rounds of severe thunder storms.

One model Walker showed listed a risk of both high winds and hail from the storm system, but didn’t mark any area of the country for tornado risk. But Walker explained its still early and as the storm progresses we could see the models change.

Walker also noted that as of May 2, Indiana has seen 22 tornados already this season, which he said is usually about the average for the full year. Illinois has already seen 40 tornados this year by comparison.

“So it has been a very active spring, and we’re just starting May, which is typically the biggest month for severe weather,” Walker said.

For the latest weather forecast, live weather radar, weather alerts, and live cameras from around the Wabash Valley visit the MyWabashValley.com weather page here .

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