Multi-Day Severe Weather Outbreak Hits Central US

A multi-day severe weather outbreak is underway across the central United States, threatening millions from Texas to the Midwest with large hail, damaging winds, tornadoes and flash flooding, forecasters announced this week. The Storm Prediction Center has issued enhanced risk warnings, with the most intense storms expected Friday across Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.

Scattered severe thunderstorms began firing up late Thursday in the Texas Panhandle, western Oklahoma and parts of Kansas, producing large hail, wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour and isolated tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service. These storms formed along a dryline boundary separating dry desert air from warm, moist air surging northward from the Gulf of Mexico, creating conditions ripe for powerful supercells.

The threat escalates Friday, when widespread severe thunderstorms are forecast to develop in the afternoon and evening over the southern and central Plains, extending into the lower Missouri Valley. An enhanced risk level of 3 out of 5 covers much of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, signaling a high probability of hazards including hail larger than two inches in diameter, wind gusts exceeding...