Storm photos and Tuesday weather update

Just a few of the many storm photos we received from Tuesday morning.  Thank you for the pictures and keep them coming!

Two rounds of thunderstorms came roaring through early Tuesday morning producing significant wind damage mainly north of Highway 20 in Illinois and up through Wisconsin.  There were numerous reports of possible tornadoes near Madison, WI and back southwest near Plattville, WI from the initial line that went through.  Further south, while there were no severe thunderstorm warnings, many up around Roscoe and Rockton reported wind damage to trees and structures in isolated areas.

The second line of storms intensified as it moved through eastern Iowa and eventually into northwest Illinois where a 69 mph wind gust was reported from a home weather station in Stockton.  From there, numerous reports of downed power lines and trees started coming in from Stockton to Lena to Freeport up towards Warren and Orangeville.

Strong winds along the leading edge of both those storms likely produced winds in excess of 70 mph, which caused the significant damage.  Now, we've got a break from the weather as skies have cleared.  But, it's those clearing skies that will build instability through the afternoon and could help fuel thunderstorms later today and tonight.

We will stay dry through the remainder of the morning as well as into the early afternoon as temperatures a few thousand feet above continue to warm.  This will put a 'cap' on the atmosphere to prohibit much storm development going into the afternoon.  That 'cap' will weaken as an upper level disturbance moves in from the southwest.  While it won't be as strong as the one that rolled through last night, it will be enough to fire up storms through the evening and overnight.  The low level jet will also fire back up helping to initiate storms and push them east as the jet remains pointed towards northern Illinois. 

Why the multiple day storm chance?  The jet stream is pretty much placed right overhead.  South of the jet stream, a hot and steamy air mass continues to build while north of the jet stream a less hot and more stable air mass is in place.  Right in the middle resides the Midwest and Great Lakes leaving this area favored for strong to severe storms.  This is somewhat a 'Ring of Fire' pattern.  It's not a strong one, but storms follow the northern part of the jet stream feeding off of the moisture and instability that's building to the south and causing storms to move over the same area day after day.  Until the ridge breaks down or moves, the stormy pattern will continue.  Also with the ridge, the warm front near the Illinois/Wisconsin border doesn't have much of a pushing force, keeping the front in place and the focus for storm development.  It really doesn't look like until late Thursday that this pattern will break down.