A dangerous storm system is moving across the central United States, carrying the threat of powerful tornadoes and hurricane-force winds across six states through Monday night. The affected states include Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Iowa.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has issued a tornado watch for parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and northern Texas, indicating that conditions are favorable for tornadoes to develop. This watch covers numerous counties, including areas around Oklahoma City, Norman, Wichita, and Wichita Falls. The SPC warned that some storms could evolve into supercells, which are capable of producing tornadoes, damaging winds, and large hail.
As the day progresses, storms are expected to merge into fast-moving lines, increasing the risk of destructive wind gusts. Forecasters anticipate that the strongest gusts could reach between 65 to 80 mph, particularly in areas where the storm line bulges forward. The exact locations of the most severe winds remain uncertain.
In addition to strong winds, some storms may produce hail measuring one to 1.5 inches in diameter. Earlier storm activity moving through western Oklahoma toward southern Kansas could also feature rotation, but less favorable conditions near the ground are expected to limit their severity.
The primary threat is anticipated to develop by late afternoon along a boundary between dry and humid air across western Oklahoma and south-central Kansas. These storms are expected to move rapidly northeastward, with damaging winds and isolated tornadoes being the main concerns. By early evening, a cold front is projected to interact with the storms, aiding their consolidation into a line and intensifying the wind threat. This line is forecast to extend south into west-central Texas, where damaging gusts and a few tornadoes remain possible, though the overall severe weather risk is expected to be lower than in areas further north.