Tens of millions of Americans stretching from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Baltimore could experience strong thunderstorms tonight and into Wednesday, with the possibility of tornadoes in some states.
Major storms are expected to batter much of the central United States over the next few days, with severe thunderstorms expected to move into Kansas and Nebraska by Monday evening, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center.
Strong tornadoes are also possible in both states, with parts of Oklahoma, Missouri and Virginia facing some risk.
West Virginia saw five tornadoes last week, more than double the annual average.
Scattered severe thunderstorms are also expected to bring strong winds, hail and flash flooding.
Which regions are most at risk?
After passing through the Great Plains, the storm system could move into the Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions on Tuesday, bringing “severe weather and isolated flash flooding,” the NWS said.
The agency announced Tuesday that southern Iowa, northern Missouri and central Illinois face the greatest threat of “significant hail and tornado potential.”
A tornado can be seen in the distance in Madison, Indiana. (Tony Novello)
The risk of tornadoes in parts of Kansas and Nebraska on Monday evening will increase due to the development of several separate supercells, the NWS said. They are shaped like tall anvils that generate tornadoes and hail, creating powerful rotating updrafts that can last for hours.
When is tornado season? And does it change?
May is generally considered the midpoint of tornado season, said Harold Brooks, a tornado scientist at the National Severe Storms Institute.
Brooks said the strongest tornadoes that cause fatalities typically occur from late April to mid-May.
Brooks added that because tornado seasons vary widely from year to year, “there is a lot of uncertainty in these estimates.”
Some scientists believe that the tornado landscape in the United States has changed over the past few decades, with more tornadoes occurring in states along the Mississippi River and further east. But scientists aren’t entirely sure why it’s happening.
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One possible factor could be that the western Great Plains is becoming drier thanks to climate change, said Joe Strass, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. I moved to,” he said.
