Millions of people will be at risk for "powerful" thunderstorms threatening nighttime tornados and baseball-sized hail later this week as a late winter storm works its way across the nation.
The thunderstorms are caused by the same storm system that is bringing more than a foot of snow to Denver, Colorado, from Wednesday through Friday. The storm system will spawn "rounds of severe weather" targeting the Midwest and southeastern United States later this week, AccuWeather reported, bringing with it threats of tornados, hail and severe thunderstorms to the 60 million people in its path.
Two maps published with the report showed that the thunderstorm threat would impact Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri by Wednesday night and spread to Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Iowa and Mississippi by Thursday night.
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tom Kines told Newsweek that on Wednesday the biggest threat area will be from Kansas City to north of St. Louis. Thursday's storms will encompass a much larger area from Texas up to Chicago.
"The first disturbance is expected to kick off the severe risk across eastern Kansas, southeastern Nebraska, western Missouri and southwestern Iowa on Wednesday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said in the report. "These storms will likely fire up late in the day and continue into Wednesday night."
Kines said the biggest threats from the storm will be tornados, wind, and hail. Hailstones associated with the storm could reach up to the size of a baseball. Damaging winds are also expected, with gusts reaching up to 75 miles per hour. More than a dozen states in the impacted area could be affected by nighttime tornados during the storm's progression.
AccuWeather said the winter storm will produce two disturbances. One will target the Midwest, and the second will impact the southern Plains states.
"Because of the two disturbances, the severe risk could end up having two focal points, with one zone focused along a push of dry air in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and another farther north that includes Iowa, Missouri and Illinois," Buckingham said.
Thunderstorms are expected in the Midwest by late Thursday night and will continue into Friday. The severe weather could cause flash floods in some areas, and rain from the storm could surpass 6 inches in some areas, such as Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Weather alerts were issued across seven states on Wednesday morning in regard to the winter impacts from the storm, which included heavy snow in areas like Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and parts of Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona.
On the backside of the storm system, strong winds will threaten California on Wednesday and Thursday, gusting up to 75 miles per hour and threatening widespread power outages across the state.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
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