National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Strong Atmospheric River Bringing Heavy Rain to the Pacific Northwest; Areas of Snow in the North-Central and Eastern U.S.

A strong atmospheric river will bring prolonged heavy rainfall along with gusty winds to the Pacific Northwest through much of this week. The heavy rainfall may lead to widespread urban and river flooding. Accumulating snow is expected over parts of the central Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic today as well as the Upper Midwest and the Upper Great Lakes this evening into Tuesday. Read More >

Overview

From the evening of May 20th through mid afternoon on May 21st, several waves of thunderstorms produced tornadoes, damaging winds with gusts up to 90 mph, hail up to tennis-ball size, and extremely heavy rainfall, which resulted in considerable flash flooding and river flooding.

Six tornadoes (5 EF0 and 1 EF1) occurred with a fast-moving line of thunderstorms that moved through eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa during the early morning hours on the 21st. An additional 4 tornadoes occurred with a second round of thunderstorms (supercells) that formed over far eastern Nebraska and tracked through southwest Iowa during the late morning and early afternoon hours on the 21st. 

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Radar loop from 4 PM on May 20th through 3 PM on May 21st
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