Severe storms with damaging winds, isolated tornadoes threaten from Oklahoma to mid-Mississippi Valley

Severe thunderstorms are doable Wednesday in components of the southern Plains and mid-Mississippi Valley on the nice and cozy aspect of a large cross-country winter storm that continues to unleash its wrath over a minimum of 25 states.

Severe climate menace stretches from Oklahoma to Illinois

The FOX Forecast Center stated damaging wind gusts are the principle menace via the afternoon from central Oklahoma to northwestern Arkansas, Missouri and western Illinois. Brief, isolated tornadoes are additionally doable. 

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Timing the storms

“The entire timeframe between now and about 5 p.m. is go time,” FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin stated. “At any point, these thunderstorms could produce severe weather. Once we go into the overnight, we start to kind of relax that threat, but we’ll continue to watch those thunderstorms as they progress off to the east.”

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Flash flooding additionally a priority in Midwest

As the road of thunderstorms lifts to the north, it would produce heavy rain able to flash flooding. The highest menace of flash flooding will stretch from northeastern Missouri to central and northern Illinois, northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan.

“All these thunderstorms that could produce severe weather across the central Plains,” Merwin stated. “Although the severe component goes away, they still are laced with deep tropical moisture and that’s what leads to the flooding threat up north.”