A Thunderstorm Watch was in effect for portions of the TV9 viewing area until 10:00 a.m. Tuesday as another round of strong to severe storms moved through central Iowa and threatened to turn severe. Damaging wind and large hail were the main concerns, with an isolated tornado described as unlikely but still possible as the storms strengthened and pushed east.
The timing made the watch especially urgent. A line of severe storms was expected to track across the state near and just after daybreak, with the morning threat moving from western communities around 7:00 a.m. into the east by about 11:00 a.m. For anyone checking kcci weather before leaving home, that meant the first storm window was already open while the second was still building.
Much of the area was in an Enhanced Risk of severe storms from the Storm Prediction Center, with a slight risk covering nearly all of the rest of the region. That is why forecasters were watching not just the early storms, but the way they could set the stage for later development. Another round of scattered storms could form between about 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. near and ahead of a cold front, and those afternoon storms carried the same threats of large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes.
The wrinkle in the forecast was that the tornado threat in the morning storms was not expected to be the main danger, yet it could not be dismissed entirely, and the afternoon round still left room for tornado development. That left the day balanced between two different risk windows, one unfolding at sunrise and another waiting in the afternoon if the atmosphere recovered enough after the first line moved through.
What happened after that depended on how much the morning activity disrupted the setup for later in the day. Drier air was expected to move in once the storms passed, with Thursday night lows falling into the upper 50s and humidity dropping sharply. Friday was expected to bring highs around 80 and a much drier feel overall, before another chance of showers and storms Saturday afternoon and evening. Sunday was forecast to turn cooler and drier again, with highs in the low 70s, followed by slim chances for a shower or storm Monday into Tuesday and a gradual warm-up by the end of the 9-day forecast.
