Thursday's Severe Potential

Still tracking the potential for scattered storms across the Stateline for tonight. Starting to see some smaller clusters of storms firing up in portions of eastern Iowa and just south of the Stateline. The threat for severe weather will stay south of a line from Chicago to Pontiac and Peoria, however.  But if storms fire up tonight, some hail is possible.

Thursday is the day that has the potential for strong to even severe thunderstorms. But, there are a few ingredients that need to come together first. We need enough lift, instability, and moisture in the atmosphere. Right now a lot of the moisture and instability is sitting to the south along a stationary boundary. That boundary will lift north tonight and through tomorrow bringing the moist warm air with it. If all of the factors come together correctly we could see strong and severe thunderstorms. If these storms come together, the highest threat will be large hail. But also strong damaging winds and isolated tornadoes are also possible.

With the storms overnight tonight and lingering into tomorrow, the storm potential for tomorrow afternoon still needs to be watched. If the storms tomorrow morning linger, or if we don't get any clearing and don't see any sun, the severe potential will greatly decrease. However, if we get a few hours of clearing, even late in the day, then we could definitely see strong and severe thunderstorms.
Make sure that you have a severe weather plan in place and a way to receive updates like a weather radio.