COLUMBUS – Central Ohio may be in for another round of severe weather, the third in as many weeks.
The National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for central Ohio until 8:00 p.m.
The National Weather Service says a moist and unstable airmass will interact with an approaching cold front to bring showers and thunderstorms to the region today and tonight.
“Especially after lunchtime, we’ll be tracking scattered showers and thunderstorms. Some storms could be strong to severe with damaging winds, even an isolated tornado,” WBNS 10-TV meteorologist Maddie Kircher said.
Due to the threat of severe weather, Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security has suspended the regular weekly test of the outdoor warning sirens on Wednesday.
Gusty winds between 35 and 45 mph will be possible, raising the possibility of another round of power outages, which has utility companies on alert.
The same conditions that fueled last week’s storms — an area of low pressure combined with strong southerly winds — will make conditions ideal for another round of storms.
“We also have a threat for tornadoes, some of those potentially being strong, particularly from far east Illinois and northern Indiana, going into extreme northwest Ohio,” said Brian Squitieri, a forecaster at the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center.
A tornado watch was issued this morning for the counties of northwestern Ohio, northeastern Indiana and southern Michigan. The watch area included Toledo, Lima, Detroit and Ft. Wayne.
Conditions such as dry air from the west going up over the Rockies and crashing into warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, are what make the U.S. so prone to tornadoes and other severe storms.