AccuWeather meteorologists have been monitoring a potent storm expected to move through the northwestern United States late this week before it eyes the central U.S. The system is forecast to produce a narrow zone of drenching rain in the Midwest with the risk of severe thunderstorms igniting farther south during Mother’s Day weekend.
The storm is expected to move slowly but steadily eastward from the Plains Saturday to the Ohio Valley on Mother’s Day. The exact track of the storm will determine the north and south extent of the rain.
It is likely the west to east band of rain from the storm will be rather narrow and there could be a fairly abrupt northern edge to the wet weather, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.
“Near the northern edge of the rain, some people may be drenched, while areas 50 miles farther to the north may not have a drop of rain the entire weekend,” Anderson explained.
The track of the storm has trended a bit farther south at midweek, compared to earlier this week.
“It now appears that the zone from northern Iowa to northern Illinois and southern Michigan may escape all or the majority of the storm’s rainfall,” Anderson said.
This means that cities such as Chicago and Detroit could be dry all or most of the weekend.
“At this time, the rain is likely to fall south of Interstate 80 and may be concentrated near the I-70 corridor of the Plains and Ohio Valley states,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Benz said.
Near I-70 over the Plains and between I-64 and I-70 in the Ohio Valley, there is the potential for 1-3 inches of rain to fall with locally higher amounts.
Rain is expected to break out over an approximate 1,000-mile-long swath during Saturday afternoon and evening from Colorado to Indiana and Kentucky. Within this zone, it may rain for 12-18 hours in some locations.
Central U.S. cities likely to be thoroughly soaked by the storm as it moves slowly eastward this weekend include Denver; Topeka, Kansas; St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; and Huntington, West Virginia.
