COLUMBIA, S.C. — A cold front that has proven itself capable of severe weather as it pushed through the southern Plains on Sunday night will move through the Southeast overnight Monday into Tuesday morning. While the risk for severe weather is not as high as it was in the Plains, there is still a chance of strong to severe storms moving through the Midlands.
Monday will be relatively quiet with partly sunny skies and temperatures around 80° in the afternoon. It is not until the overnight hours that the threat for storms increases.
Any storms that form will be after midnight here in the Midlands as the front approaches from the west. Storms are forecast through the early morning hours and during the morning commute on Tuesday morning. Any activity during the morning will continue pushing east and clear out of the area around lunchtime Tuesday afternoon.
The Storm Prediction Center has the eastern Midlands under a slight risk for severe weather, which is a 2 out of 5 on the severe weather scale, while the rest of the area is under a marginal risk for severe weather, or a 1 out of 5. The storms will not be a widespread event, rather isolated to scattered across the area at best.
The biggest threat with any strong to severe storm is high winds. An isolated tornado also cannot be ruled out. Small hail and localized flooding is not as big of a concern with this event. Models show rainfall totals of less than a tenth of an inch of rain, with isolated locations seeing slightly more.
Tuesday afternoon skies will clear and temperatures will rebound close to 80° once again. However, overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning cold air will funnel in behind the front, dropping lows back into the upper 40s. Highs for Wednesday and Thursday will only reach the lower 70s.
