Forecasters warn severe storms ‘likely’ across Eastern Iowa Friday

Strong storms — some of them severe — are likely across much of Iowa Friday evening and into the night, according to forecasters.

The storms will be moving quickly — 50 to 60 mph — from west to east, between 4 to 10 p.m. Friday. The line of storms is expected to pass through Eastern Iowa between 6 p.m. and 12 a.m., according to the National Weather Service’s Quad Cities bureau.

Much of the southern half of the state is categorized as being at “moderate risk” of severe weather. That rating is level 4 on a 5-point scale used by the Storm Prediction Center. It means forecasters have “high confidence” that storms will contain damaging winds, severe hail, and/or tornadoes.

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Damaging winds are the primary concern with this storm system, the NWS reports. There is a lesser potential for tornadoes and large hail.

Strong winds out of the south-southeast will gust to over 50 mph. The NWS also has issued a red flag warning to warn of the potential for prescribed burns to spread quickly.

The NWS warns that conditions will “rapidly deteriorate as storms approach” and the strongest part of the storms will impact any one area for less than 30 minutes.

Friday started sunny with temperatures reaching 78 degrees. The storms will bring cooler temperatures, with the low temperature Friday night around 46 degrees.