Swath of Central US Braces for 'Strong Tornadoes'

Expert says outbreaks two days in a row are rare
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 27, 2024 1:50 PM CDT
Weather Service Warns of More Dangerous Tornadoes
Terry Kicking sifts through the damage after a tornado leveled his home on Friday in Omaha.   (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

Less than a day after swarms of tornadoes swept through Iowa and Nebraska, millions of people in several states were warned Saturday to expect another round of significant twisters, as well as large hail and damaging straight-line winds. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center's outlook maps included a rare Level 4 risk of severe weather, on a scale that tops out at 5, the Washington Post reports. "The greatest potential for severe storms will be from north Texas into Oklahoma and southeast Kansas, where strong tornadoes, very large hail over 2 inches in diameter and widespread damaging winds (some over 70 mph), are expected to occur," the agency said.

It's practically unprecedented for a tornado outbreak to occur one day after another weather system sparked an outbreak in a similar area, said Victor Gensini, an expert at Northern Illinois University. Major storm systems usually remove moisture from an area, preventing more storms from forming. But this time, moisture returned overnight. The Level 4 warning covers southeast Kansas through north Texas just to northwest of Dallas; Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman and Moore in Oklahoma; Wichita, Kansas; Wichita Falls, Texas; all of Interstate 35's run through Oklahoma, and the HE Bailey Turnpike southwest of Oklahoma City, per the Post.

Injuries but no deaths were reported after Friday's storms, per the AP. Hundreds of homes were destroyed. A pastor coordinating relief efforts said Saturday that many people are in shock. In Nebraska, a tornado ran through suburban Omaha, destroying houses and businesses. It then went into Iowa. "We could hear it coming through," said Pat Woods of Elkhorn, Nebraska, who first saw that her fence was gone after the tornado passed. "We looked to the northwest and the whole neighborhood's gone," she said. Todd Lehan of Omaha rode the tornado out in a windowless basement. "It sounded like a vacuum cleaner on top of your house," he said. (More tornadoes stories.)

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