Severe storms to rattle portions of Upper Midwest

A storm system that set off severe weather in northern Texas and portions of the southern Plains on Memorial Day was pressing into the Midwest on Tuesday. Meteorologists will be monitoring the development of strong to severe thunderstorms across parts of the region throughout the afternoon and evening, including some areas that got a round of damaging thunderstorms on the holiday.

Severe weather could erupt across portions of Iowa, southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin as the day progresses. Cities at risk for severe storms will include Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Minneapolis and Rochester, Minnesota.

Thunderstorms will also ignite over locations farther south across Missouri, but storms will gain strength as they move northward into a more conducive environment for severe weather.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

"Conditions are such, with enough warm and humid air near the surface and cool air aloft to allow heavy and gusty thunderstorms to develop with the risk of isolated severe thunderstorms," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.

The morning started with rain and even some thunderstorms over central and northern Iowa, but these were not the storms of concern. Behind the unsettled weather, the sky partially cleared. With sunshine, the air will be able to rise and lead to the formation of more volatile thunderstorms. In fact, this had already begun to occur as of early afternoon.

A tornado watch was issued for central Iowa on Tuesday afternoon, shown in the maroon color.

There is only a short window during which most of the severe weather is anticipated, with the most intense thunderstorms likely to occur until around sunset.

"These strongest storms will carry the risk of damaging wind gusts, large hail and even a few tornadoes from late Tuesday to the first part of Tuesday night as they lift from Iowa to parts of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin," Sosnowski said.

Even though thunderstorms are going to continue after that, the main threat is going to shift to primarily heavy rain. An area of rain and thunderstorms will progress into northeastern Minnesota and western Ontario after midnight and continue into early Wednesday morning.

Although unsettled weather will continue in parts of Iowa and Wisconsin on Wednesday, severe weather is not expected. In locations farther north and west in Minnesota, dry weather will return.

Memorial Day was highlighted by severe thunderstorms across the nation's heartland. Six tornadoes were reported from Oklahoma to Missouri on Monday, according to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC).

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.