Watching Things Closely.....

Severe thunderstorm Warning for Eastern Benton Counties. This is one of those cells we was just talking about. This small cell is moving ENE at around 20 mph. This cell is capable of producing Pea sized hail and gusty winds near 60 mph. This warning is in effect until 4:45pm EDT.....

Severe Thunderstorms Watch..... Is in effect until 10:00pm CDT... For the following Counties below.....

Benton, Newton, And Jasper, counties.
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You can see the NWS has put a Severe thunderstorm watch into effect until 10:00pm tonight for some of our northern counties. We are currently watching some scattered thunderstorms that have fired up to our west in parts of IL. These storms are moving ENE at around 21 to 25 Kts, or around 23 to 29 mph. Currently they are not severe however with how unstable and warm we are currently they could become! With temperatures around 90.5* degrees and (LI) around -6.5 we have around a 40% to 60% chance at these scattered cells. This is just some storms firing up ahead of the main system later on tonight. Kinda like a little taste of whats to come..... Still I'M watching the main storms to start closer to 6:00pm or 7:00pm this evening ((or at least be close!!)). And then still with more wide spread storms as we head into this evening after 7:00pm into early A.M of Saturday..

Still with these storms tonight I'M going to keep our main threats being.....

Large Hail (Possible.)

High gusty winds. (Still outside storms gusting between 30 - 35 mph. Higher In Storms.)

Dangerous Frequent Lightning. (Cloud To Ground)

Heavy Rainfall. (Between A Half Inch And One Inch Possible) Expect Locally Higher Amounts In Storms.

And An Isolated Tornado Still Cannot Be Ruled Out. (Tornado Threat Is At A 10% Chance At This Time. What we have to continue to watch is the "Helicity" along with our CAPE. This is the wind shear that supports the spin needed to form tornadoes..... Usually you need Helicity to be around 300 to 400 to support severe thunderstorms. This is what we are currently look at! This is why a (Isolated) Tornado cannot be ruled out just yet. You need to use Healicity along with CAPE to give an (idea) where tornadoes would be most likely to form (IF) they where to form. So with High CAPE over our area anywhere between 3,500J/kg to 4,000J/kg and "Helicity" between 300 and 400, We shall keep our guard up! (Just to be Safe)
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I will continue to check back as needed....................