Severe storms threaten Plains to Midwest with tornadoes, giant hail, high winds

The next several days carry a broad severe-weather threat from Texas to Wisconsin, with NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center upgrading southeastern Oklahoma to a level 4 out of 5 moderate risk for giant hail and a strong tornado or two. Forecasters say the danger is not confined to one storm line or one afternoon, but stretches through Tuesday as thunderstorms organize over the Plains and keep building east.

Weather.com said the same system could affect a long list of major cities, including Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Wichita, Shreveport, Kansas City, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Little Rock. That wide corridor means the risk is not just for open country in the Plains. It reaches into the interstate routes, evening commutes, school dismissals and utility networks of some of the country’s most populated metro areas, where fast-moving storms can turn routine travel into a safety decision within minutes.

The warning comes after a violent stretch of weather that has already left its mark. On Thursday evening, an EF4 tornado near Enid, Oklahoma, packed estimated winds of 170 to 175 mph and destroyed buildings. Weather.com said it was the first EF4 in Garfield County, Oklahoma, since April 26, 1991. That storm underscored how quickly a high-end tornado can move from forecast language to shattered structures and prolonged cleanup.

The recent outbreak cycle has also kept the upper Midwest on alert. On April 17, the National Weather Service office in La Crosse issued 26 tornado warnings, its most in a single day since the office opened in 1995. That outbreak was preliminarily tied to 9 tornadoes, with reports of more than 100 homes damaged and only one minor injury in Iowa. It matched the April 12, 2022 outbreak as the largest April tornado outbreak in the NWS La Crosse area.

AccuWeather separately said at least 80 tornado tracks were confirmed from last Friday’s multi-state outbreak, which stretched about 650 miles from Oklahoma to Michigan. The two strongest tornadoes in that event were rated EF3 in Wisconsin, and no fatalities were reported. With thunderstorm complexes expected to fire repeatedly and sweep from the Plains into the Mississippi Valley and lower Ohio Valley, the threat is now measured in days, not hours, and in a footprint that spans workweeks, school schedules and the possibility of widespread power outages.