The Plains and Mississippi Valley will once again be in the crosshairs of a major weather system that will bring a renewed threat for destructive tornadoes, very large hail and damaging winds. Michigan to Texas will be at risk for these menacing storms. Tornado Watches extend from far northern Texas to western Missouri, including Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla., Chanute, Kan., and Springfield and Kansas City, Mo. Showers are quickly developing in eastern Kansas, likely to grow into severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes, large hail and gusty winds. Additional dangerous thunderstorms will quickly develop this afternoon farther south to the Red River Valley in Oklahoma and northern Texas. Thunderstorms are bubbling across the Great Lakes this afternoon. Here, a Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been posted in Michigan, including Detroit and Muskegon. Hail larger than golf balls and damaging winds up to 70 mph are possible as these storms move east this afternoon. Storms of this magnitude will likely develop into the Upper Mississippi Valley later this afternoon as well. The elevated Moderate Risk for several tornadoes, some of which will be long-lived and strong, destructive wind gusts peaking at 80 mph, and hail greater than baseball size continues this afternoon and evening for cities such as Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla., Wichita Falls, Texas, Springfield, Mo., and Fayetteville, Ark. Beyond the Moderate Risk area is a broad area of still-powerful thunderstorms that will stretch from the central Texas Plains all the way to the shores of the Great Lakes. Here, wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph, hail to the size of golf balls, and possibly even a few weak tornadoes are possible. This includes major cities such as Dallas, Kansas City, Mo., St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee. The trigger for today`s dangerous outbreak is a cold front extending from western Minnesota to central Oklahoma. As the front slowly meanders to the east, much cooler 50s behind the front will collide with much warmer 80s from northern Texas into the Great Lakes. This will set the stage for storms to quickly build across north Texas, central Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas and western Missouri by mid-afternoon. The storms that erupt across the Red River Valley in southern Oklahoma and north Texas have the best opportunity to produce strong, long-tracked tornadoes. Farther north, storms that break out across central Oklahoma into southeastern Kansas will likely organize into line segments with damaging winds, large hail and a few tornadoes. These storms will sweep east-northeast into Missouri and northern Arkansas late this afternoon and early this evening. Beyond the severe threat, heavy rain is likely to make flooding a major concern. Locally heavy rain could total 3 inches or more, particularly across northeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Missouri. A Flash Flood Watch is in place here, with additional Flash Flood and Flood Watches across eastern Minnesota. If you come across a flooded roadway, do not attempt to cross it, as it is likely deeper than it appears. It`s best to "Turn Around, Don`t Drown." The same weather system produced nearly 500 severe weather reports severe weather reports from Oklahoma to Wisconsin on Sunday, including 28 possible tornadoes. One person was killed in Oklahoma when the twister destroyed an entire mobile home park in Shawnee. Be sure to download the WeatherBug app on your smart phone. The mobile app now includes Spark Lightning Alerts, a GPS-based lightning detection feature providing you the location of the closest lightning strike, so you can Know Before the storm hits. Click here for the link to download. Be sure to keep WeatherBug active to receive the latest severe weather in your neighborhood and get the latest updates anywhere on Twitter. What do you think of this story? Click here for comments or suggestions.
