Wednesday was a wild weather day with rounds of showers and storms that brought damaging wind gusts, tons of lightning, and heavy rainfall that led to widespread flooding. Most of Northeast Ohio received about 2-5 inches of rain but some folks, especially west of Cleveland in Erie, Huron & Lorain Counties, picked up over 5 inches of rain! Lower totals were reported in our far eastern communities.
I-90 in Lakewood had to be shut down Wednesday night because the highway turned into a river.
There were also thousands without power, trees and power lines downed, damaging wind gusts, and even structures that collapsed during Wednesday night's storms.
And we are not done yet. Plan for additional showers and storms throughout Thursday and into Friday. Let's break down the timeline, severe potential, heat advisories, and flooding risk.
SET UP: A warm front is stalled over our area and several disturbances will try to ride along the front today and into tomorrow. Additionally, there is a huge ridge of high pressure over the central US. This is known as a heat dome. The waves of thunderstorms are sliding up and over the top of the heat dome and dropping into our viewing area yesterday, today, and early tomorrow. The heat dome will also help heat up our temperatures today and it will be briefly very humid. Finally, a combo of cold fronts will slide through Friday and Saturday, lowering the threat of rain and dropping our temps for the weekend.
ALERTS: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH until 3m Friday morning. Severe storms with wind gust between 60 & 85 mph will move across the Lake tonight into early Friday morning. Wind damage is the main threat along with heavy flooding rainfall and an isolated weak tornado. A Flood Watch has been extended in time to cover the rest of today. The watch includes nearly our entire viewing area (Tuscarawas, Carroll, and Coshocton Counties are not included) through Friday morning at 8 a.m. That should give you an idea of how much longer heavy rain and flooding will be a concern. Additionally, there are areal flood warnings from Cleveland and communities west and south of Cleveland such as Elyria, The Islands, Sandusky, Mansfield, Ashland, and Wooster through the early afternoon. There are also flood warnings for The Black River, The Vermilion River, and The Huron River.
There is also a heat advisory for our fringe western communities from noon until 9 p.m. Thursday. This includes Ottawa, Sandusky, and Sencea counties, where heat index values could exceed 100 degrees.
STORM TIMING: I can give you a rough timeline for showers and storms today. There is low confidence in the forecast because how each round of rain evolves will dictate the next round. As of Thursday morning, it appears showers and storms will gradually come to an end throughout this morning, with a brief lull in activity for a couple of hours. However, I have a chance for rain throughout the entire day - so do not be surprised to see a few storms this afternoon. With that said, there appears to be a resurgence of activity this evening into early Friday morning. The images of Futurecast below show this afternoon and tonight. Use them as a gauge to get an *idea* about the timing and coverage of storms. We will continue to monitor storms and update the forecast as needed. It appears the best chance for rain will be early on Friday with generally drier weather for the rest of Friday and into the weekend.
SEVERE THREAT: The risk posted from the Storm Prediction Center for Thursday is almost identical to Wednesday's map. The area in yellow is a slight risk for severe weather and is a level 2/5. All modes of severe weather are on the table, including gusty damaging winds (especially close to the lake), hail, frequent lightning, and isolated tornadoes. Of course, due to the heavy rain our area has received over the last day and more in the forecast, flooding is going to continue to be a concern. Remember to turn around; don't drown.
HEAT AND HUMIDITY: Outside of storms, the heat dome is expected to cause our temperatures to SOAR this afternoon. Highs will be in the 80s for many with a few locations touching 90 degrees. It will be cooler to the east, but everyone looks to get very humid for a few hours on Thursday. Dew points will be in the 70s - which makes it feel like a jungle outside! Heat index values, or how it feels outside, will be in the 90s to the triple digits out west. After a one-two punch of cold fronts, temperatures and humidity will drop by this weekend.
Check back for the latest information, and be sure to tune into News 5 at noon, 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m.!
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