A storm system expected to form over the Central United States will bring the risk of severe thunderstorms, damaging winds and disruptive rain, beginning late Sunday.

Leftover moisture from Simon will join forces with a disturbance pushing across the Rockies this weekend. As the two systems get together to form one dynamic storm system, thunderstorms are forecast to erupt over portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri Sunday afternoon.

According to Severe Weather Expert Henry Margusity, "For October, this could be a big outbreak of severe weather spanning late this weekend into the first part of next week."

The storms have the potential to become severe Sunday evening with the risk of damaging wind gusts, large hail and flash flooding being the main threats.

"A few of the strongest storms could produce a tornado as well," Margusity said.

Indian authorities have begun evacuation programmes and put rescue teams on alert as the eastern coast of the country braces for severe cyclone Hudhud.

Cyclone centers have been set up in the eastern Indian state of Odisha and the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh where thousands of evacuated people will take shelter. India's weather body on Friday upgraded its warning to "very severe cyclonic storm".

The cyclone is expected to make landfall near the port city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh by Sunday noon.

India's National Disaster Response Force has dispatched 39 teams to the two states.

A 6.3 earthquake has been registered early Saturday off Japan's northern coast by the US Geological Survey. The quake comes as the world's biggest super-typhoon this year, Vongfong, is striking the south of the country.

The tremor occurred at 02:36 GMT, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported. There have been no reports of damage, casualties or a tsunami alert.

The epicenter of the quake was located 154 kilometers away from the southeastern city of Hachinohe, in Japan's southeast Aomori Prefecture, at a depth of 13 kilometers.

Imagery from satellite (and astronauts) illustrates what a powerful storm Super Typhoon Vongfong became this week.
Vongfong is churning north in the western Pacific on Thursday, with winds of 150 mph and a massive, well-defined eye. The super typhoon is not only powerful but large, with gale-force winds covering around 340,000 square miles - about 70,000 square miles larger than the state of Texas.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecasts Vongfong to continue north toward Japan over the next two to three days. The dangerous typhoon is expected to weaken as it tracks north, though it will still be packing winds around 115 mph - the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane - as it impacts Japan's Okinawa Prefecture, home of Kadena Air Base.

From there, Vongfong is forecast to move into southern Japan from Sunday into Monday with 90 mph, category 1 winds. While Vongfong is expected to make a quick departure from Japan as it transitions to a non-tropical system, it will still bring heavy rain to Japan. Eight to 12 inches of rain is possible from the typhoon in the far southeast prefectures, with widespread totals of three to five inches across the southern half of the country.

Additional images

Tornadoes were sighted in several parts of the country yesterday, as heavy winds and rain lashed the UK.

Twisters were reportedly spotted in Cumbria, Derbyshire and the Wirral on Wednesday, as summer well and truly came to an end.

An eyewitness video posted on YouTube showed a tornado whipping across fields in the Haverthwaite and Backbarrow area of Cumbria.

And in the Derbyshire town of Alfreton, cars were flipped over and a house's roof ripped off by the powerful winds.

According to the BBC, the man who lives there, William Sitch, is waiting to find out whether his home will have to be demolished.

His partner's son, Oli Constable, told the broadcaster: "He's gutted and in shock. It's not something that you think would happen in Alfreton."

The Met Office confirmed that the town was struck by a tornado, but added that conditions were likely to remain calmer today.

A passenger in a car records the moment a tornado is seen crossing over the M53 in Merseyside

A dramatic video has emerged of a tornado spotted over the M53 in Bromborough, Merseyside, UK on Wednesday afternoon.

In the footage, captured by a passenger in a car, motorists can be seen pulling on to the hard shoulder to avoid the dangerous driving conditions.

A Met Office spokesman said: "Although tornadic activity is by no means common across the UK, it does occur on occasions when the atmosphere is suitably volatile".

While Japan is recovering from former Typhoon Phanfone, Super Typhoon Vongfong will turn northward across the western Pacific Ocean and bring a new threat by the end of the week.

Vongfong brought flooding rainfall and damaging wind to the northern Mariana Islands on Sunday, local time. Wind gusts over 89 kph (55 mph) and rainfall over 75 millimeters (3 inches) were common.

Currently, Vongfong is nearly equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 250 kph (155 mph).

"Vongfong became the strongest tropical cyclone we've had all year anywhere on Earth," AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Jim Andrews said.

The strength of Vongfong earlier surpassed that of Super Typhoon Genevieve which, at its most powerful, had sustained winds of 257 kph (160 mph) in the West Pacific.

The combination of light wind shear and warm water allowed Vongfong to rapidly strengthen across the western Pacific Ocean so far this week.

Late in the week, while Vongfong is located south of Japan, the typhoon is expected to slow down and make a turn to the north. While there remains some uncertainty in the exact track of the storm, confidence is high that the powerful cyclone will track north toward Japan with the potential for a landfall in mainland Japan by early next week.

The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation says bodies of Ebola victims have been left in the streets because of a strike by burial teams, who complain they have not been paid. Health Ministry spokesman Sidie Yahya Tunis says the situation is "very embarrassing" and said money was available to pay the teams. He promised to provide more information on Wednesday. The World Health Organization says Ebola is believed to have killed more than 600 people in Sierra Leone. In Spain, officials said a fourth person has been placed under observation for Ebola in a Madrid hospital where a nursing assistant that became infected after working with two victims from Sierra Leone and Liberia, who later died. The infected woman's husband is among those being observed. - ABC News

Bad Moon Rising:

"It's not Halloween just yet, but that doesn't mean the moon can't get a little freaky. The second blood moon of the year will light up the sky early Wednesday morning in North America, where it will be most visible from the Pacific coast, according to NASA. The Earth will position itself between the sun and the moon, creating a full lunar eclipse with a majestic red hue. The eclipse is the second in a rare series known as the tetrad, in which the moon is completely covered by the Earth's umbral shadow for four eclipses in a row, as opposed to only partial eclipses that fall in the outer penumbra. The next total lunar eclipse will be on April 4, 2015, according to NASA." - ABC News

Don't go round tonight, it's bound to take your life:

Three more people were put under quarantine for possible Ebola at a Madrid hospital where a Spanish nursing assistant became infected, authorities said Tuesday. More than 50 others were being monitored as experts tried to figure out why Spain's anti-infection practices failed. The nursing assistant, part of a special team that cared for a Spanish priest who died of Ebola last month, was the first case of Ebola being transmitted outside of West Africa, where a months-long outbreak has killed at least 3,500 people and sparked social unrest. Health authorities are investigating how she became infected. Her case highlighted the dangers health care workers face while caring for Ebola patients - officials said she had changed a diaper for the priest and collected material from his room after he died. Dead Ebola victims are highly infectious and in West Africa their bodies are collected by workers in hazmat outfits. - CBC

Super Typhoon Vongfong, as feared, intensified rapidly overnight Monday into Tuesday, U.S. time. The satellite image above with the classic distinct eye says it all.

As of midnight local time Wednesday, the eye of Vongfong was about 750 miles southeast of Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, moving west at 10-15 mph.

Maximum sustained winds had increased to an estimated 155 mph, the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane, according to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

Vongfong became the fifth super typhoon (150 mph max sustained winds or higher) of 2014. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Vongfong has now surpassed Genevieve for the most intense western Pacific typhoon of 2014 by estimated central pressure (905 millibars).

Violent storms lashed parts of southern France once again on Monday night leaving the city of Montpellier once again under water. Hundreds of residents were forced to evacuate their homes.

Around 300 people had to seek refuge in a sports gym overnight in the north of the city after water levels rose following more violent storms across the region.

The severe weather comes just days after Montpellier was left looking more like Atlantis when heavy rains caused the river Lez to burst its banks.

On Monday night the level of the river reached a similar height. Firefighters were called out dozens of times after the cities residents found their homes inundated with water. Several people had to be rescued by helicopter.