The Storm Prediction Center issues risk categories and probabilities for severe weather for days (24 hour windows of time) 1 through 8. The featured chart looks at the frequency of having the slight risk category issued for "Day 1" from SPC's morning issued outlook. Interestingly enough and according to this unofficial IEM analysis, the highest frequencies in the USA can be found here in Iowa and parts of extreme eastern Nebraska. The SPC outlooks cover threats from large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. So while Iowa does not see the most tornadoes in the country, it does see its fair share of all severe weather threats. Iowa is effectively in a sweet spot for severe weather, including night time thunderstorms that bring hail and wind fueled by the low level jet and Mesoscale Convective Complex activity. The values on the plot are average number of slight risk events per year. Such a event is expected on Saturday with a "Day 2" slight risk currently in effect.

Voting:
Good = 24
Bad = 2
Abstain = 1

Tags:   spc