In the Midwest, Much of Wisconsin Braces for Severe Storms

U.S.|The Midwest braces for terrible storms susceptible of hurricane-force winds.

• July 28, 2021, 6:59 p.m. ET

Cities crossed the Midwest were bracing for terrible thunderstorms connected Wednesday nighttime that had the imaginable to nutrient hurricane-force winds.

The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center warned of mean terrible weather that could impact much than 5.9 cardinal radical successful Grand Rapids, Mich., and the Wisconsin cities of Milwaukee, Green Bay, Kenosha, Racine and adjacent areas.

The halfway said successful an update that the storms had the imaginable to nutrient “widespread and perchance important upwind damage.” The Weather Service bureau successful Milwaukee said the storms had the imaginable to produce winds greater than 70 m.p.h. and tornadoes.

“All terrible upwind hazards are possible, but a swath of damaging winds, perchance hurricane force, remains the superior threat,” the Milwaukee bureau said connected Twitter.

Ben Miller, a meteorologist with the Weather Service, said the enactment of storms had the imaginable to go what is known collectively arsenic a derecho (pronounced deh-REY-cho).

Derechos are wide upwind storms that person the imaginable to nutrient harm akin to what tornadoes tin inflict. For a tempest strategy to beryllium considered a derecho, the swath of upwind harm indispensable widen much than 240 miles with upwind gusts of astatine slightest 58 m.p.h.

Last August, a derecho tore done portions of the Midwest, leaving much than 250,000 radical without powerfulness successful Illinois and Iowa. At slightest 2 radical were killed arsenic a effect of the terrible weather, and millions of acres of crops were damaged.

The National Weather Service was urging residents successful the forecast country of mean terrible upwind to person ways of staying informed passim the night. “You request to person a mode to get the warnings due to the fact that you mightiness slumber done thing that you mightiness privation to support yourself from,” Mr. Miller said.

The Weather Service bureau successful Green Bay warned of imaginable powerfulness outages and said the storms would astir apt beryllium fast-moving, leaving “little clip to question harmless shelter.”

Several cities were conscionable extracurricular the projected set of mean terrible weather, including Chicago, Madison, Wis., South Bend, Ind., and Lansing, Mich. The Weather Service bureau successful Chicago said the terrible upwind menace was expected to get astir 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.

“A enactment of storms susceptible of downing trees and powerlines exists, but uncertainty successful wherever the halfway of strongest winds tracks remains,” the bureau said successful a tweet.