Multiple days of strong storms target the Midwest
From serious dangers in North Dakota on Tuesday to Illinois on Thursday, this week could cause major weather problems across the north-central section of the country.
- A warming atmosphere is increasing evaporation, leading to conditions that can produce more humidity and rainfall in Ohio.
- The collision of warm Gulf air and cooler northern air has created a persistent storm corridor over the Great Lakes region so far this spring.
- Changes in the jet stream and a faster-than-usual transition to El Niño conditions have contributed to the severe weather patterns.
The summer weather in Ohio could be hot with a mix of rainy and dry conditions, recent storms have hit the Buckeye State as summer looms. Those storms led to flood warnings in Franklin County after Memorial Day and flooding risk near Cincinnati in June.
Where exactly is all the moisture coming from? What is causing the cloud cover and rainy days? Here’s what we know.
Why is it raining so much in Ohio? The climate is ever-changing
The Earth keeps getting warmer – and it’s bringing precipitation to the Buckeye State.
As the atmosphere gets warmer, evaporation increases, which brings increased humidity, average rainfall,the frequency of heavy rainstorms as well as droughts, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The agency also states that the average annual precipitation in the Midwest has increased by 5% to 10% over the last half century, rainfall during the four wettest days of the year has increased by 35%, and water flowing in most streams during the worst flood of the year has increased by 20%, according to their data from 2016.
Spring brought repeated storm systems to Ohio, Great Lakes
As the region moved into spring, the Great Lakes have remained a focal point for severe weather stretching from Minnesota to Pennsylvania.
That’s because warm, moisture-rich air lifting north from the Gulf repeatedly collides with lingering cooler air across the northern part of the country, creating a persistent corridor for storm development, said AccuWeather Meteorologist Chad Merrill.
Nearly every week since early March 2026, the Storm Prediction Center has outlined multiple consecutive days of severe weather threats in the Great Lakes, driven by a recurring setup in which the jet stream positions the region along a storm track where unstable air and Gulf moisture overlap. Combined, those conditions allow storms to organize quickly and intensify as they move across the region.
“I think we’ve seen it before, but not this time of the year,” Pastelok said of the early spring storms. “Keep in mind. The Gulf hasn’t even been opened up … That’s what’s unusual for this time of year.”
Why severe weather has targeted the Great Lakes
The active weather patterns across the Great Lakes and central U.S. earlier this year was not driven by a single anomaly, but by a series of large-scale atmospheric factors that repeatedly aligned and reset in similar positions.
At the center of that setup is the jet stream – the fast-moving river of air that steers storm systems across North America. When it becomes more amplified, dipping sharply south in some areas and bulging north in others, storm systems can slow and repeatedly track along the same corridors rather than spreading more evenly across the country.
Another key ingredient is the status of El Niño-Southern Oscillation conditions, Pastelok said. ENSO happens when the temperatures of the Pacific Ocean are transitioning from La Niña, which brings cooler sea surface temperatures, to El Niño, which brings cooler ocean temperatures. Both can influence atmospheric weather across the U.S., according to NOAA.
“What was different is that we’re seeing El Niño coming on a little faster,” Pastelok said. “The La Niña weakened very, very fast, and so the overall positioning of the jet stream may tend to be farther north than it usually is for this time of the year.”
