Another widespread and life-threatening tornado outbreak is likely across the Southern Plains on Saturday, just hours after twisters ripped through the nation’s heartland, leaving more than a dozen injured and neighborhoods reduced to rubble.
Some 55 million people are threatened by severe weather as the atmosphere recharges Saturday, stretching some 1,500 miles from border to border along the Plains, Mississippi Valley, and into the Great Lakes, including many places still picking up the damage from Friday’s storms.
A round of severe thunderstorms will kick off from northwestern Texas into western Oklahoma on Saturday morning, with large hail and damaging wind as the primary threat.
A Tornado Watch – the first of what will likely be several on Saturday – has been issued for parts of Texas and Oklahoma through 1 p.m. CT.
Widespread severe thunderstorms are expected to evolve Saturday afternoon when the atmosphere becomes extremely favorable for multiple tornadoes and massive hail.
Saturday, the greatest threat for a tornado outbreak stretches from north Texas into Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas, where NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has issued a Level 4 out of 5 severe weather risk.
Storms have the potential for long-track, intense tornadoes of EF-3 strength or greater, massive softball-sized hail stones and wind gusts over 75 mph.
