7:30pm CDT. Tornado watch just issued. Again, no additional weather coverage tonight.  7:25pm A tornado watch will likely be issued for much of Lower Michigan and northern Indiana. However,  this will be my last storm update for the night.  I will update the major wind and tornado threat for Friday in the morning.  5:20pm New tornado watch for northern Illinois, including Chicago and northwest Indiana, until 10pm. The dark red areas = tornado watches. Bright red = tornado warnings (take cover!). 4:15pm. Tornado Watch for much of Wisconsin and far northern Illinois.  1:15pom. The first tornado watch of the day has been issued.  This includes the Twin Cities. Please keep up on the weather in these areas.  -- original posting, still valid-- Today Begins a Multi-Day Tornado Risk Across the U.S. East of the Rockies The yellow, hatched area is where there is an enhanced  risk of strong tornadoes. This includes Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison. The brown ...

Tornado and Extreme Winds Forecast in the Midwest Please bookmark: www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.com We provide unique coverage of tornadoes, derechos and other types of extreme weather.  Also, I provide live coverage of tornadoes and other major storms here: @usweatherexpert Please call friends and relatives and make sure they are aware of these forecasts! 8:25pm - Northern Arkansas Tornado Watch  7:17:pm -  Illinois Tornado Watch  6:45pm - Wisconsin Tornado Watch  6pm Update - New Tornado Watch  There are tornado-bearing thunderstorms near the west side of this watch, so people need to be monitoring the weather the rest of the evening.  I will be updating on Twitter @usweatherexpert.  4:05pm Update This tornado watch until midnight includes Madison, Janesville and Milwaukee. Please monitor the weather closely in these areas. I also update on Twitter @usweatherexpert.  2:45pm Update I am confident tornadoes will occur in this watch. In additi...

It looks like tomorrow will be a major tornado and severe thunderstorm day in the Midwest. I recommend people start planning accordingly. There is a high  risk of damaging storms. Tuesday's Tornado Risk There is an enhanced risk of strong tornadoes  in the yellow, hatched area. There is a significant risk of tornadoes in the brown area.  Tuesday's Damaging Wind Risk Here is the color code for this forecast: Purple: a high risk of wind gusts of 75 mph or stronger. Red, hatched: there is an enhanced  risk of wind gusts of 75 mph or stronger.  Red (only): an enhanced  risk of wind gusts of 60 mph or stronger.  Yellow: a significant risk of wind gusts of 60 mph or stronger.  There is also the risk of large hail in the above areas. A derecho may occur. Please factor this forecast into your plans Tuesday and Tuesday night.  Yesterday's forecast , unfortunately, worked out pretty well. It is almost certain there were more tornadoes in Kansas than sh...

A major damaging wind event Tuesday: The Forecast Note it says, "prepare for power failures and downed trees" and there is an excellent correlation (well done, NWS SPC!) between the red area and the most severe winds (map below).  Squall Line at 10:45pm EDT Conditions as of Late Evening The squall line has brought a huge number of power failures to the region, including in the cities of Chicago and Milwaukee. There are about 995,000 people without power and it will take days to fully restore.  Reports of wind damage (blue) and one tornado report (red) The problem is that heat indices tomorrow and Thursday in that area will be around 100° which may cause heat strokes and serious injury. Hail Swaths For agriculture and other interests, here is a map of hail swaths across the Midwest.  There were two storms with extreme hail in Kansas.  The western storm produced baseball-sized hail and  wind gusts that were clocked to 77 mph This was an example of how weather...