Severe weather, tornado risk to intensify over central US through late April
Thunderstorms packing hail, strong winds and tornadoes will be a common occurrence in the coming days, as multiple storms push through the center of the nation into next week.
Across much of the middle of the United States, severe thunderstorms are expected to bring risks in the days ahead.
Damaging thunderstorms will focus on the Plains and the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys on an almost daily basis through the end of the month, with AccuWeather meteorologists warning that storms on Sunday and Monday could be particularly strong.
"This may feel like a marathon stretch of severe weather for many people in the central United States. Some communities are facing the threat of storms daily through early next week," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham about the risk of severe storms.
Lightning flashes as a thunderstorm passes in the distance Monday, April 13, 2026, in Lenexa, Kansas. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Nearly two dozen states from Texas to Minnesota and eastward to Pennsylvania are included in that risk, which includes damaging winds, hail, flooding downpours and tornadoes through at least next Tuesday.
Thunderstorms re-fire, move east through Friday night
After producing numerous thunderstorms with damaging winds in eastern Montana and the Dakotas late Wednesday and proceeding into the Plains to produce hail, wind and tornadoes on Thursday and Thursday night, a storm and a front will shift east through the end of the workweek and become the focus for the next round of severe weather.
Through Friday night, much of the Plains and the Midwest will have a temporary lull in this multiday severe weather event as storms shift to areas farther south and east across the Ark-La-Tex and in the Mississippi Valley. The thunderstorm risk will include Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee, especially in the afternoon and evening.
While the tornado risk should be into the night compared to Thursday, gusty winds, hail and flooding downpours will be possible as millions transition from the workweek to the weekend.
There will also be a smaller risk area for gusty thunderstorms in a part of the Ohio Valley from Indiana through Ohio and to around the Detroit area. While these storms should not be damaging, they can still slow travel into early Friday night.
Severe threat shifts west, reloads over the weekend
A new storm emerging in the Plains over the weekend will set the stage for likely the most perilous phase of this late-April stretch of severe weather. While strong storms will be possible as early as Saturday, they will kick into another gear on Sunday.
"The risk of severe weather will intensify Sunday and Monday as atmospheric conditions become more favorable for widespread damaging storms," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Adam Douty. "This includes the potential for more tornadoes and hail from Texas to Illinois.”
Sunday will mark the second consecutive day of a moderate risk of severe weather, and the third such instance in just four days, across a portion of Oklahoma and Kansas. That enhanced risk for damaging storms and even tornadoes will also extend into parts of Arkansas and Missouri by Sunday night.
Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma; Fayetteville, Arkansas; and Springfield, Missouri; are at risk for these potentially tornadic thunderstorms to end the weekend. It is possible that, as the atmospheric pattern evolves, this severe weather risk area may morph in shape and size.
No other day and night will pose a greater risk of widespread severe weather and twisters than Monday and Monday night, as the combination of atmospheric energy and moisture reaches a crescendo over the Mississippi Valley.
On Friday afternoon, AccuWeather's team of meteorologists upgraded the severe weather outlook for Monday and Monday night from a "moderate" to a "high" across a portion of eastern Missouri and Illinois. The high risk category is reserved for more widespread outbreak days that often feature widespread damaging wind gusts and/or dozens of tornadoes and was recently issued for Friday of last week when 80 tornadoes were reported in the central U.S.
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St. Louis, which by that point will have managed to avoid severe thunderstorms despite multiple storm systems dancing around the city in prior days, will be near the epicenter of the strongest thunderstorms late Monday.
Even outside of those strongest of storms, any thunderstorm will create dangerous lightning and heavy rain that can put those participating in warm-season outdoor activities, such as golf, at risk.
Come Tuesday, a risk of severe weather will still be on the weather map, this time across a portion of the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic through northeastern Texas, as the storminess appears it will shift east by this time. This will bring a rare reprieve to much of the Central states in time for the final few days of April.
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