Friday Storm Update: 2 Rounds of Storms

After heavy rain and storms last night and early this morning, so far the Stateline is remaining dry, but that won't be the case later today.  The storms from yesterday fired up with and ahead of a cold front, but now that front is stalled across the Stateline. A low pressure system is developing south west of us, near Kansas and Missouri, and this will be one of the focal points for storm initiation this afternoon. Looking south west of us - along and south of I- 80 - the atmosphere is able to destabilize because the cloud cover is eroding away, and this is where storms are are able to form. Storms are currently tracking north east across south eastern Iowa. Across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin we still have a 'cap' on the atmosphere where the clouds have stuck around a little more, and we remain a little more stable. If we see some clearing taking place, our severe threat will go up. With waves of energy riding along the cold front, and the incoming low pressure system storms will begin to fire up this afternoon to the south west and track to the north east. Heavy rain and strong storms will be the threat with these storms, as we have the potential for strong updrafts. Once this first round of storms moves through we should get a break from the rain before more storms fire up later with the main low pressure system this evening and tonight.

Look for the second round around dinner time tonight or shortly after, again coming from the south west and tracking to the north east. Heavy rain will again be the threat with these storms, as well as strong to severe storms with hail and gusty winds possible. The combination of the low pressure and stalled front will allow for strong updrafts.

A good one to three inches will fall, but 3-5 inches is also possible so a Flash Flood Watch is in effect tonight at 7pm through 7am Saturday morning. But the placement of the low pressure itself will be key in how much rain we see. If the low pressure pulls further to the south, the rain threat will go down.