More than 35 million Americans from Wisconsin to Oklahoma are at risk of a severe weather outbreak on Friday, including some areas that have already seen destructive storms this week.
As storms develop Friday afternoon, there is a chance for discrete supercells with very large hail, strong tornadoes and destructive, straight-line winds.
The National Weather Service on Friday upgraded the severe weather potential for parts of the Heartland. The agency’s Storm Prediction Center added a level 4 of 5 “moderate risk” for parts of northwest Oklahoma, central and eastern Kansas and west-central Missouri. This includes Kansas City, Missouri, and Wichita and Topeka, Kansas.
Thunderstorms expected to fire up later Friday afternoon into the evening in this area have the potential to produce hail greater than baseball-size that can be damaging, very strong and destructive wind gusts of up to 90 mph and some tornadoes.
The greatest risk for strong tornadoes is in central and southern Wisconsin through eastern Iowa. The northern halves of Illinois and Missouri have the greatest risk for destructive winds.
A tornado watch is in effect for parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois — including Madison, Milwaukee, Des Moines and Davenport — through 8 p.m. CT. Intense tornadoes are possible, as well as large hail up to 3.5″ in diameter and damaging gusts to 70 mph.
