Tornado Warnings Forecast, Path Expanding to Multiple States: Where is the Storm Heading Now?

Update: 2:51 p.m. EDT— The National Weather Service issued more tornado warnings on Thursday as severe thunderstorms moved across the eastern central portion of the country. A tornado warning was issued for southeastern Orange County in Kentucky after a thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was identified at 2:36 p.m.

Another thunderstorm was identified at 2:47 p.m. in the area of North Vernon, Indiana, that caused a tornado warning, according to the NWS.

All of the latest tornado warnings were being added to the NWS tornado Twitter account as they were declared. More than 20 tweets with warnings and maps were sent out between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday. Those tweets included notices that some warnings were continuing.

Original story:

The significant winter storm that slammed Colorado on Wednesday brought traffic to a halt, stranded people on the highway and resulted in the death of a state trooper. The storm caused a standstill across much of the state with travel nearly impossible and blizzard conditions present but by Thursday the storm was on the move, even though it wasn't as strong.

The storm underwent bombogenesis Wednesday to become a bomb cyclone, making it incredibly strong. Luckily the storm lost some of its strength after that and was expected to weaken as it traveled.

"The strong winter storm to continue to affect portions of the Central to Northern Plains today with blizzard conditions continuing," said the forecast from the National Weather Service. Strong winds and blizzard conditions were among the biggest threats the storm was causing as it traveled northeast to the upper Mississippi Valley and the upper Great Lakes, according to the NWS.

"While the storm has reached its lowest pressure and will gradually weaken over the next few days, strong winds will continue on the west side of the storm across portions of the Central and Northern Plains," said the forecast from the NWS.

Areas that had been experiencing strong hurricane-force winds throughout the day Wednesday were expected to see those winds weaken through the day. But large areas were still under high wind warnings and wind advisories. A high wind warning was issued for western Kansas and eastern Colorado. Wind advisories were issued for eastern Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio and Michigan.

A significant part of the country was also under a tornado warning, parts of Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, North and South Dakota were all under a warning Thursday. The weather service was updating it tornado warning Twitter account with the latest watches and warnings, many of which were occurring in Kentucky on Thursday morning. A tornado narrowly missed the NWS office in Paducah, Kentucky, the office shared on Twitter.

In the storm's wake there were colder temperatures expected in the areas of the Great Basin, the Rockies and into the Plains, according to the NWS. Those cold temperatures were then expected to more east through Friday and into the weekend to the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, said the weather service.

As usual, residents should monitor the weather conditions in their area and be sure to follow any directions from officials.