The first tornado watch of the day is in effect due to a line of severe thunderstorms moving south southeast in the Midwest.  As of 9am, the radar shows the position of the line and the tornado watch (orange).  If you are in the tornado watch, please monitor the weather for the latest warnings.  More tornadoes are possible with a second area of thunderstorms this afternoon. I will post more later this morning. 

There has been a lot of speculation about tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in the Midwest Wednesday.  I will provide an update Wednesday morning based on the latest information. 

This forecast is for 7am CDT Wednesday until 7am Thursday.  The area in red with the cross hatching has a high  risk of tornadoes on my 4-point scale and some could be strong or intense.  The yellow area has an enhanced risk of strong tornadoes.  The brown area has a significant risk of strong tornadoes.  Tomorrow is a day when close attention should be paid to the weather. When tornadoes develop, they could be strong and fast-moving. There may be less time to prepare than usual.

In addition to extensive flooding, we now have a chance of a tropical storm. Peak sustained winds are forecast to be around 40 mph. Yellow is a tropical storm watch.  In addition, here is the latest on the flooding as of 10:35am CDT. Maroon = flash flood warning. Green = flash flood watch. Bright green = flood warning. 

These are all from my Twitter/X feed yesterday morning. What do these have in common? All of the major airlines in the U.S. are terrible.  While we often hear the airlines were "deregulated" during the Carter Administration, they really weren't. They were allowed to choose where they fly and a few other things but they are otherwise heavily regulated. For safety, regulation is fine. For everything else, it's bad.  For example: Suppose a startup airline's customer research said that many businesspeople would pay extra for an airline that allowed three carryons? Might be a great marketing niche. And, suppose they worked with Boeing to create additional safe and secure storage for the extra bags? Great, huh? WRONG!! The legacy airlines have lobbied the FAA to put two carryons and much more that would snuff out innovation into the law. Innovating in the airline industry is practically impossible. So, all we get is cheaper tickets -- which translate to incredibly bad ...

Please keep in mind that flash floods are most dangerous at night. Regardless of time of day turn around, don't drown!   Never walk or drive into a flash flood.  This is the probability of flash flooding from now until 7am CDT. The red area has an enhanced risk of flash floods. Probability of flash flooding from 7am Tuesday to 7am Wednesday.