Two Severe Thunderstorm Watches are in effect across the central and northern High Plains this afternoon and evening, covering a combined footprint of four states — from Colorado Springs in the south to Rapid City and the Black Hills in the north — as the NOAA Storm Prediction Center warns of supercell development capable of large to very large hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes.
TORANDO WARNINGS in COLORADO & WYOMING (UPDATED):
Watch 377: Colorado From Colorado Springs to the Kansas Border
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 377 is in effect through 9 PM MDT Monday for 18 Colorado counties.
The watch covers a sweeping arc from El Paso County (Colorado Springs) in the west to the Kansas border, including Pueblo, Las Animas (Trinidad), Otero (La Junta), Logan (Sterling), Phillips (Holyoke), Prowers (Lamar), Baca (Springfield), Kit Carson (Burlington), Cheyenne, Lincoln, Elbert, Crowley, Sedgwick, Washington, Yuma and Kiowa counties.
Colorado Springs and Pueblo — the two largest cities in the watch zone — are squarely in the threat corridor this afternoon. The SPC’s convective outlook notes that steep midlevel lapse rates and sufficient deep-layer shear will support potential for supercells with large to very large hail, localized severe gusts, and possibly a tornado or two.
Watch 376: Wyoming, Nebraska, and the Black Hills of South Dakota
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 376 runs through 8 PM MDT across three additional states.
In Wyoming, the watch covers 10 counties including Laramie (Cheyenne), Sheridan, Campbell (Gillette), Johnson (Buffalo), Platte (Wheatland), Goshen (Torrington), Converse (Douglas), Crook, Niobrara and Weston — essentially the eastern Wyoming plains and the Cheyenne area.
In the Nebraska Panhandle, the watch covers Scotts Bluff, Box Butte (Alliance), Dawes (Chadron), Cheyenne (Sidney), Kimball, Morrill (Bridgeport), Banner and Sioux counties. According to News Channel Nebraska, severe storms are likely to develop by early evening across the Panhandle and South Dakota before pushing into central Nebraska, with large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes all possible.
In South Dakota, the watch covers Pennington (Rapid City), Lawrence (Lead and Deadwood), Custer and Fall River (Hot Springs) counties — the Black Hills region, where storms moving off the plains can intensify over complex terrain.
What’s Driving the Storms
The atmospheric setup is a classic late-June High Plains pattern: strong heating and moisture pooling east of the Rockies, combined with mid-level flow and steep lapse rates that favor intense supercell development.
NWS’s national briefing confirmed this afternoon that “severe storms may produce hail across the northern/central High Plains” throughout the afternoon and evening.
Hail is the primary concern — storm environments like today’s regularly produce stones the size of golf balls or larger, capable of significant damage to vehicles, crops and structures.
What You Should Do Right Now
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are favorable — not that severe weather is confirmed, but that you should be prepared to act immediately when a warning is issued.
Identify shelter in a sturdy structure before storms arrive, bring vehicles into a garage or under cover if possible to protect against hail, and have a weather alert device active. Monitor the SPC and your local NWS office for any upgrades to Warnings as the afternoon progresses.
