Strong and potentially destructive thunderstorms are expected to pummel parts of the Midwest, central Plains and Southeast this weekend, with heavy rainfall and flash flooding possible over the next couple of days.
Sweeping rain and powerful wind gusts early Saturday already left more than 50,000 people without power in Nebraska, according to PowerOutage.us. More severe weather could be on the way, according to the National Weather Service.
The agency is forecasting “numerous nocturnal thunderstorms” across portions of the Midwest through the weekend and into Monday.
Clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms, particularly in the nighttime hours, could drop “very heavy rain” along a corridor stretching from northern Missouri through southern Iowa and into southern Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service.
“Hourly rain amounts to 2.5” along with multi-day rain totals locally to 9” can be expected,” the agency said Saturday in its short-range forecast discussion.
As such, there are threats of dangerous flash flooding throughout the region.
In the Southeast, storms could develop and linger over northern Florida and southern Georgia this weekend, fueling heavy rainfall over the area.
“Continued daily rounds of heavy rainfall on saturated ground will bring a localized flood risk through the weekend especially across coastal southeast Georgia,” the local branch of the NWS in Jacksonville, Florida, said in its weekend forecast.
In central and South Florida, numerous showers and slow-moving storms could be capable of producing damaging winds and heavy downpours, the NWS said.
Meanwhile, the Southwest continues to swelter through record-breaking heat. Temperatures well into the triple digits were widespread across Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. Phoenix on Thursday hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit, setting a new daily and monthly record for the city. Similar daily temperature records were also set in other cities in Arizona, including Scottsdale, Yuma, Blythe and Deer Valley, according to the National Weather Service.
Though weekend temperatures in Arizona and other parts of the Southwest are expected to be less intense than in recent days, the NWS said high temperatures approaching or exceeding 110 degrees are still possible.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Friday’s high temperature reached 101 degrees, beating the city’s previous record of 98 degrees that was set in 2011, according to the NWS. A heat advisory there remains in effect through Saturday evening, before storms roll through the central and northeastern parts of New Mexico on Sunday.
