A Flash Flood Watch has been issued for Lee and Whiteside Counties until Saturday morning.
A line of showers and storms pushing through eastern Iowa this morning will greatly dictate what happens in terms of our risk for severe storms later this afternoon and evening. These are the two scenarios we are watching.
Scenario 1): Showers and storms in eastern Iowa this morning maintain intensity and move in around 10/11am with rain continuing into the early afternoon and cloudy skies. This limits the amount of destabilization, or storm energy, that can build up and thus lowers our risk for severe storm development this afternoon.
Scenario 2): The line of storms in eastern Iowa weakens considerably before it reaches our area, allowing the clouds to break up for the early afternoon. Added sunshine will then destabilize our atmosphere and promote severe storm development after 3pm. Large hail, damaging winds, heavy rain, and a few isolated tornadoes will be likely.
We’ll continue to monitor trends throughout the day and forward more updates as necessary. Remain weather aware as we head through the day, especially if you notice we break into some sunshine.
