Weather

Stormy Sunday for Great Lakes & Mid Atlantic

By Team Morecast
22.07.2017

Widespread, scattered thunderstorms will develop Sunday from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Enough instability is in place that some storms will become severe, producing damaging wind gusts, heavy rain and some hail.

There are two main culprits driving the stormy weather Sunday: a strong upper level disturbance churning through the northern Great Lakes, and a cold front that will be draped near the Ohio Valley eastward into Appalachia, slowly dipping south as the day progresses. These are the same two systems that spawned severe storms on Saturday, producing heavy rain and gusts above 60 mph is places around Washington D.C. and Parkersburg, West Virginia. These same areas could see more severe weather Sunday.

Storm Threats

Similar threats are expected again from Sunday’s storms, as individual storm cells likely form into larger clusters as the day progresses. Along with threats for damaging winds that can topple trees and power lines, torrential downpours can lead to flash flooding, especially in places in Kentucky, West Virginia, and in the Philadelphia metro area, where abundant moisture is present.

Meanwhile, gusty storms will form in parts of Michigan and southern Ontario, with the potential for quarter sized hail to go along with winds and heavy rains.

Timing

The strongest storms will form late Sunday afternoon and continue into Sunday evening. While the severe threat will diminish for the overnight hours, the storm leftovers may still produce heavy rains for parts of New York, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. So if you’re outdoors or traveling Sunday afternoon and/or night, make sure to keep an eye to the sky to monitor conditions closely. The scattered nature of the storms means they’ll be hit and miss, so some places will see nothing while a town or two over could get hit hard.