Iowa thunderstorm line

[BBauer]

Would the line of thunderstorms streaking across Iowa and down into MO and Kansas right now be considered a squall line? If not what would they be called. Its like they are playing follow the leader, like a big train of thunderstorms all connected together in one strip but moving in a single file line more or less

 

[Richard Nelson]

BBauer...Welcolm to the forum! Yes, to answer your question, I would say what you are looking at is indeed a squall line. Squall lines are a line of thunderstorms along a frontal boundary. Primary threats are strong gust front winds, hail, lightning (of course!), and bow echos. However, you can get embedded supercells, and even tornadoes with these events.

 

[BBauer]

I guess I thought the definition of a squall line was a moving wall of thunderstorms, like football players spread across the turf and moving down field, like a moving front. In this storm the cells (although along the warm front) are marching down a narrow corridor, in other words stacked deep but not wide if that makes sense. I'll try to use the education links to answer most of my basic questions but I thought the phenomenon on radar was interesting and wanted to figure out what to call it. I'm learning a lot on here, thanks!

 

[rdale]

It's more of training cells in a line. Your description is more accurate for a squall line.