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Tracking severe storm potential Wednesday

Warmth, moisture, and a front could spell trouble for some this afternoon and evening. Here’s who is most at risk for severe storms.

You'll want to keep an eye to the sky as we head through Wednesday afternoon and evening as the Quad Cities is at risk of seeing a few strong to severe thunderstorms.

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This will be a similar setup to what we saw last week with a warm front lifting north through the region and a cold front to follow later this evening. What we were missing last week was the needed instability care of some sunshine. while we have plenty of clouds across the region this morning, there is some clearing taking place to our south and west that will have to be watched. This added sunshine will create more instability as we head into the afternoon and evening, fueling some potentially strong storms.

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Our Threat Track is a level 2 ouf of 5 for late this afternoon and into the evening. The primary risk will be large hail up to 1" in diameter and winds up to 60 MPH. A secondary threat of an isolated tornado or two is also on the table. The timing has the storms in here between 4pm and 10pm this evening.

 

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Much of the Quad Cities is under a "slight risk" for severe storms, with the higher chances along and east of a Cedar Rapids to Mount Pleasant Iowa line running straight into western Illinois.

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The threat for isolated tornadoes comes into play anytime a warm front, or "triple point" is relatively close to the area. The triple point is where the warm front, cold front, an area of low-pressure meet. It is also where the wind fields are quite favorable for rotation with any storm that can develop and maintain itself. This enhanced area will lay out just to the north of the Quad Cities running through Monticello, Dubuque, Savanna and Sterling/Rock Falls/Dixon.

If you haven't already, make sure and download our free StormTrack 8 Weather App to make sure you receive watches and warnings should they be issued this afternoon. We'll continue tracking things in the weather center as the day progresses.

Meteorologist Andrew Stutzke

Download the News 8 Weather App — for iOS, click here and for Android, click here

Download the free News 8 App — for iOS, click here and for Android, click here

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