A distant cousin of Hurricane Laura may come calling across north central Ohio on Wednesday afternoon and early evening.
Well, ok, a really distant cousin. A strong, damaging thunderstorm or two, to be exact.
Hurricane warnings are posted for upper Texas and southwest Louisiana coasts as Laura, strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane Wednesday morning with 105 mph winds, races to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday.
Life-threatening storm surge and destructive winds will batter the gulf coast region and a threat of flooding rain and strong winds will extend well inland.
North central Ohio won’t see anything packing that kind of punch on Wednesday, unless a strong storm cell spawns a tornado.
But the National Weather Service office in Cleveland has issued a hazardous weather outlook for north central Ohio through tonight, saying severe thunderstorms are possible this afternoon and early evening. Damaging wind gusts and quarter-size hail are the primary threats.
It doesn’t end tonight, either. Isolated severe thunderstorms are possible Thursday afternoon and early evening as a cold front approaches from the north.
And remember Laura? Gulf moisture associated with the remnants of the hurricane will approach the region Friday into Saturday. This will interact with a front approaching from the north to create the potential of heavy rainfall.
Severe thunderstorms are also possible on Friday,which could impact the opening night of Ohio’s high school football season.
