Tornado, Severe T-Storm Watches remain in effect for central Indiana

With storms moving east Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center have issued a Tornado Watch for portions of Central Indiana until 10 p.m. The shaded counties northwest, west and southwest of Indianapolis are included as of this writing. Additionally, the rest of central Indiana is under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 1:00 a.m.

A higher severe weather risk exists in these spots and places west. Storms are beginning to enter Central Illinois this afternoon. Always remember that a WATCH means now is the time to PREPARE ahead of the storm’s arrival.

Several confirmed tornadoes have occurred in portions of central Illinois near Peoria. Storms are ongoing as they move east. We will watch to see how they evolve over the next few hours.

Storm threat continue through the early evening as the storms move east. Damaging winds and isolated tornadoes remain the biggest threats. 6-7 p.m. for storm arrival in west Central Indiana, closer to 8 p.m. in Indy metro and east central Indiana by 9-10 p.m. NOTE: As these storms move east, a downstream watch box could be issued and that may include more Central Indiana counties. We’ll keep you updated as the storms progress.

Otherwise, a Wind Advisory remains in effect through 9 p.m. (2:15 PM update, NWS extended the advisory an hour). This afternoon, our region is seeing gusts around 30-35 MPH with locally higher gusts likely with the approaching storms.

Once these storms move out, get ready for another classic case of weather whiplash! A cold front will come sweeping through here. It will give us a shifting wind, another temperature drop and a few flurries for Thursday. High temperatures will be nearly 30° colder than Wednesday running several degrees below average.