The Discovery Storm Chasers are in Omaha and Sioux City, Iowa, this afternoon, getting into position for a severe weather outbreak later today.
Those are good launch points, because the Storm Prediction Center has eastern Nebraska, western Iowa, the corner of Missouri, a morsel of Minnesota and a swath of northcentral Kansas in a moderate risk today.
“The greatest tornado threat would be…along the warm front near the Iowa-Minnesota border,” the SPC synopsis states. “This activity could pose a risk of strong/long-track tornadoes if it occurs.”
The Hastings, Neb., office of the National Weather Service warns that thunderstorms forming in northern Kansas could feature hail up to the size of baseballs and damaging winds up to 70 miles an hour. “A few tornadoes will be possible as well,” a weather service statement reports.
The most likely area of storm formation will be southeast of a line from Geneva, Neb., to Plainville, the weather service predicts.