West Central Illinois could see some severe storms late this afternoon and into tonight. The National Weather Service is predicting two rounds of storms. The first round is predicted to hit West Central Illinois late this afternoon and into the evening hours and could produce scattered showers and thunderstorms.
The second round of storms is predicted to hit overnight and could see chances for tornadic activity. Dan Smith with the National Weather Service Office in Lincoln says we could see damaging winds and large hail.
“All modes of sever weather are possible for late today and into tonight. The damaging straight line winds, very large hail, isolated tornadoes, and the threat for heavy rainfall. Once these storms do become organized into more of a line structure, they will become more progressive so the heavy rain threat will be ending. We are much more concerned with the potential for isolated to scattered storms developing supercells, and those may produce the tornadoes and very large hail initially, before it congeals into a cluster or two of storms tonight into tomorrow morning.”
The National Weather Service says the primary threat is later in the evening hours as a deepening low pressure system moves into the region. Should storms develop early, the storms could tap into very unstable air and substantial shear, and bring the threat of large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes this evening.