Overnight, violent thunderstorms accompanied by hurricane-force wind gusts swept through the northern Plains and upper Midwest, resulting in downed trees, power outages, and significant damage across the region.
On Monday, meteorologists issued a warning that this hazardous line of storms has the potential to evolve into a rare derecho, characterized by a sustained line of storms capable of generating powerful and damaging wind gusts over several hundred miles.
Last night’s storm complex diminished in intensity before it could fulfil the criteria necessary for a derecho classification; however, the outcome remained unchanged. Reports of damage to homes and businesses have been submitted to the National Weather Service, attributed to wind gusts exceeding 90 mph.
Winds have caused power outages affecting over 150,000 homes and businesses in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, as reported by poweroutage.us. In Minnesota, over 100,000 customers experienced power outages.
Late Monday into early Tuesday, reports indicated multiple wind gusts surpassing 80 mph, with peak gusts reaching 99 mph near Sioux Centre, Iowa, and 92 mph near Orange City and Spencer, Iowa. The weather service has reported that, alongside numerous fallen trees, several large vehicles were overturned due to the intense winds.
On Monday evening, severe storms swept through rural areas of South Dakota and Iowa, resulting in the formation of multiple tornadoes and large hail.
The storms that swept through the northern Plains on Monday marked yet another significant weather event for the region. During the weekend, a series of intense storms and tornadoes swept through the area, leading to multiple reports of wind damage and hail across eastern South Dakota, southern Minnesota, and northern Iowa.
On Sunday night, reports emerged of three tornadoes touching down in rural regions. Reports indicate that the Minneapolis-St. The Paul area in Minnesota experienced golf ball-sized hail, downed trees, and flash flooding.
The threat of severe storms has been downgraded to a Level 2 out of 5 for Tuesday, as stormy conditions move south and east into the central Plains and Great Lakes. The region is facing an increased risk of flash flooding, especially in low-lying and urban areas, due to saturated soils from rainfall over the weekend. The Weather Prediction Centre has issued a Level 2 of 4 risk warning for flooding rain in the area.
