The risk of severe thunderstorms, including a few tornadoes, will continue over the Central states and will begin to shift eastward and expand northward into Thursday night.
Following
violent storms from Wednesday, thunderstorms into Thursday evening will stretch from northeastern Texas to southern Wisconsin, lower Michigan, southwestern Ontario, Ohio, West Virginia and part of western Pennsylvania. The storms have the potential to be severe within this swath, home to approximately 60 million people.
According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity, "The risk of tornadoes will affect parts of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri, which represent a fairly heavy population density."
"The risk into Thursday evening includes the metro areas of Chicago and St. Louis," Margusity said.
A second area of slightly higher risk for tornadoes extends from northeastern Texas to northwestern Louisiana and southeastern Arkansas.
Extensive cloud cover hindered severe thunderstorm development into the early afternoon hours on Thursday. The sun burned through the clouds and warmed the region at mid-afternoon, causing thunderstorms to erupt and turn severe.
The storms can bring damaging wind gusts, large hail, frequent lightning and blinding downpours in some communities. A small number of the storms can produce a tornado.
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