Severe Storms in the Midwest Could Bring Tornadoes to Over a Dozen States

Widespread and potentially severe thunderstorms, including the possibility of damaging winds and tornadoes, are possible on Friday for over a dozen states in the Midwest and the mid-South, potentially affecting over 30 million people.

The risk area includes some of the areas devastated by tornadoes last week, like Mississippi, where at least 26 were killed.

“We’ve had a fairly high number of higher-end severe weather events” this year, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the Storm Prediction Center. “Storm systems this year have been frequent. They’ve been intense. Qualitatively, I would say it’s a more active year than normal.”

Friday’s storm system will add to the active year and could affect an area stretching from Louisiana to Wisconsin, including Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago and other major cities.

The reason the risk area is so large has to do with how fast-moving this storm system will be, Mr. Bunting said. It’s a strong system that will cover a lot of ground during the day on Friday and overnight into Saturday morning.

For severe storms occurring in the cold season, like this storm, there is typically not as much thunderstorm development as there is in late spring and early summer. “Like a lot of cool-season events that are strong and fascinating, it could be a pretty widespread severe weather event,” Mr. Bunting said. Not every part of the risk area will be affected by severe storms, but the conditions could allow more storms to form than would be the case at other times of year.

As the ingredients begin to come together on Thursday, forecasters will have a better idea of which areas are likely to be affected by the more intense storms on Friday.

Mr. Bunting recommends that anyone living in the risk area take the rest of Thursday to prepare, create a plan and have a way of getting warnings on Friday.

With the likelihood that these storms will move very quickly, he urged people not to wait until the dangerous weather is clearly visible. The best plan of action, he said, includes heeding warnings issued by the National Weather Service and being prepared.