AUDIO: Xander Lowry – Aura Commodities
A meteorologist with Aura Commodities says the past week’s severe storms have left a swath of damage across the Midwest.
Xander Lowry tells Brownfield, “As far as the Northern Plains and the Dakotas, as far south as central and southern Indiana, there’ve been upwards of 40 tornado reports over the last couple of days, and hundreds of reports of 60 to 70 mile hour-plus winds.”
He says numerous reports of large hail impacting young crops are also concerning.
“I’ve seen some pictures today from some of the tornadoes that show pretty nasty ground scarring through fields and some grain bins torn up in northern Indiana, northern Illinois, southeastern and eastern Iowa.” He says, “But I don’t think it’s anything horribly widespread per se, but definitely some folks are going to feel the impact unfortunately.”
Lowry says the heavy rains left behind localized flooding for some, but they were beneficial for others.
“If we zoom out and look at the entire Upper Midwest and Ohio Valley, I think a lot of this rain is a net positive for most folks,” he says.
While much of the Midwest is expected to see increased chances of rain through the end of the month, Lowry says most will see temperatures below normal, which could limit severe weather development.
