A potentially damaging outbreak of severe thunderstorms, possible tornadoes, heavy rain and high winds is headed to a swath of the United States from the mid-Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and stretching into the weekend.
A tornado watch was issued for several states in the central U.S., including Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas and Oklahoma. This means conditions are ripe for tornadoes to form. Some 5.7 million people live where the tornado watch is in effect, including the entire St. Louis metro area.
Severe thunderstorm watches were also in place for more than 14 million people on May 16 in portions of the central Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic, according to the National Weather Service.
The “very active and complex mid-May weather pattern” is expected to produce severe thunderstorms with large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes in those states while a larger area of possible threat from storms extends from Texas to Mid-Atlantic states. Rainfall during the storms could also lead to flash flooding, forecasters said. Thunderstorms are also set to develop across the Northeast and New England.
Another system with its sights set on the Midwest could bring more rain and gusty winds to the Dakotas and other Northern Plains states. The day before, several tornadoes reportedly touched down in cities in western and central Wisconsin, causing significant damage.
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Severe weather to impact millions through weekend
Into the weekend, as many as 200 million people could be impacted by severe weather, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.
The severe thunderstorm and tornado threat is ramping up in the afternoon and evening on May 16, and the storms could turn deadly and destructive, with about a dozen tornadoes expected across Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, AccuWeather reported.
On May 17, damaging thunderstorms are likely in parts of Texas and Oklahoma through Tennessee and western Georgia. Another pocket of storms will center on major cities in the Northeast that day, the outlet said.
“Saturday will bring the greatest risk of severe weather through the weekend for the major Northeast metro areas such as New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.,” AccuWeather reported.
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Storms force school closures
Some schools in Kentucky said they will dismiss students early on May 16 before severe storms are expected in the area. Schools in Oldham County near the Kentucky-Indiana border will end their day two hours early, the Louisville Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
“Although the storms may not arrive until late afternoon/early evening, we want to err on the side of caution to ensure all students are home and buses are off the roads before the storms hit, as these storms have the potential for destructive winds and very large hail,” an email from the school district to parents said.
The severe weather threat in the region will ramp up between 3 and 6 p.m., the weather service in Louisville said.
In Michigan, several counties closed schools due to power outages after storms wreaked havoc on May 15, Michigan Live reported. The weather service in Grand Rapids said the storms caused damage and power outages. On May 16, another round of thunderstorms is expected in the evening.
Tornadoes tear through Wisconsin towns
The National Weather Service said tornadoes were spotted May 15 shortly before 6 p.m. in Juneau, Horicon and Mayville, Wisconsin. The twisters caused significant damage, toppling trees and sending one person to the hospital after a roof caved in, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
“We have people who are without homes,” Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said.
In Mayville, about an hour outside Milwaukee, a building belonging to the Gleason Reel corporation was destroyed in the storm as workers inside rode out a potential tornado.
“It happened so fast,” said Matthew Hecker, a worker at the electrical cable manufacturer. “The air changed where your ears pop I guess would be how to describe it.”
Alliant Energy listed 6,815 customers without power in Dodge County shortly before 10 p.m.
In Colby, Wisconsin, over 130 miles away, the National Weather Service reported a tornado that moved northeast at 45 mph at 5:21 p.m. on May 15, the Stevens Point Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. Just hours later, community members and first responders were out cleaning up the debris.
Contributing: Maia Pandey and Drake Bentley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Gabi Broekema, USA TODAY Network-Wisconsin; Marina Johnson, Leo Bertucci and Killian Baarlaer, Louisville Courier Journal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tornado watch issued as storms threaten large swath of the US
