Tornado watch issued across Plains as other states brace for potentially historic flooding
A dangerous and potentially historic flooding event is bearing down on 22 million Americans from Arkansas to Ohio, and residents are urged to prepare now.
The life-threatening flooding will likely hit from Wednesday night through Sunday morning, with multiple rounds of heavy rain pounding the same spots over the course of the week.
Tornadoes, damaging wind gusts up to 80 mph and hail that could get as large as a tennis ball are possible from any severe thunderstorms that move through.
One tornado watch was issued across parts of the southern Plains on Tuesday, including portions of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma -- including the Oklahoma City metro area.
The tornado watch was put in effect until 12 a.m. CT Tuesday. Storms are expected to fire up within the next few hours and sweep across the watch area through the evening.
Before the flooding moves in, severe storms are heading to the Heartland. More than 80 million American are on alert for this new outbreak of severe thunderstorms on the way.
On Wednesday, the hail, wind and strong tornadoes could stretch from Chicago to St. Louis to Indianapolis to Louisville to Little Rock.
More than a foot of rain could rain in the bull's-eye of the storm, which spans from Little Rock, Arkansas, to the Arkansas-Missouri border, to Louisville Kentucky, to Evansville, Indiana.
Residents are urged to avoid flooded roads and be prepared for power outages.
On the north side of the storm, heavy snow is expected across northern Minnesota.
Six to 12 inches of snow could fall from Tuesday night to Wednesday night, along with wind gusts up to 40 mph.
Wintry conditions persist from the Sierra Nevada in California into the Rockies, with winter weather alerts in effect.
Heavy mountain snow and gusty winds could make travel treacherous, especially through mountain passes in the region.
Winter weather alerts are in effect from North Dakota to Michigan, with deteriorating weather conditions expected in these areas by Tuesday night.
Icy roads could impact travel in the region, and there are still hundreds of thousands of people without power following the devastating ice storm that hit parts of the northern Great Lakes region.
The National Weather Service said, “This is an increasingly significant setup approaching with the potential for high impacts and life-threatening flash flooding spanning the course of several days."
There is the potential for a “significant and widespread flooding” event beginning late Wednesday through the weekend, the NWS said.
