DAVENPORT, Iowa – Severe thunderstorms rolled across the Midwest Friday, bringing rounds of damaging wind gusts, torrential rains and even a few reported tornadoes.
The FOX Forecast Center said the tornado threat was the greatest around the Quad Cities in Iowa, but Tornado Watches spread even across the Chicagoland region.
Spectators scrambled for shelter at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, where tornado sirens sounded during practice for the weekend's IndyCar races as a Tornado Warning was issued for the area.
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Video from spectators showed ominous skies as an emergency announcement blared over the public address system, warning people to take shelter.
"Iowa Speedway may not provide adequate protection from extremely high winds, lightning, hail, or tornadoes. There is no basement or approved tornado shelter on property," the announcement said. "If no other safe option is available to you, as a last resort, the American Red Cross recommends getting into your vehicle, buckling your seat belt, and keeping your head below the windows."
And the rainfall was heavy enough around the Quad Cities for the National Weather Service to issue a Flash Flood Emergency for communities north of the Mississippi River, including Davenport.
FOX Weather Exclusive Storm Tracker Corey Gerken took video of street flooding in Davenport, where several vehicles appeared to be stalled due to the high water.
Rain gauges showed around 3 inches fell in short order around the area.
The thunderstorms also brought along strong wind gusts, reaching 73 mph at Davenport's airport, while another gust was recorded at 85 mph in Cascade, Iowa.
Dubuque, Iowa had gusts reaching 65 mph with multiple reports of trees down there and just across the borders of Illinois and Wisconsin.
A strong gust knocked over a semi-truck along Interstate 380 north of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
On Saturday, the threat shifts into the Great Lakes region with a Level 2 out of 5 severe storm risk in place, as a smaller dip in the jet stream pushes east, the FOX Forecast Center notes. A cold front at the surface will slowly push east, with the parent low-pressure system sitting across Canada.
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Hot temperatures and high humidity will increase instability into the afternoon ahead of this front, allowing for severe storms to develop. Damaging winds and hail will once again be a threat with these storms into the afternoon and evening on Saturday.
In addition to the severe weather threat, a mounting flash flood risk will evolve as rounds of storms work in tandem with copious atmospheric moisture to produce high rain rates in thunderstorms forming in this very unstable environment.
The greatest risk for flooding is expected in a zone from Iowa and northern Missouri through northern Illinois, where a Level 2 out of 4 flood threat exists.
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