Thursday Severe Weather Outbreak Predicted

Forecasters are predicting a tornado outbreak in parts of the Southern Plains on Thursday, the latest in a stormy week that has raked the country’s midsection and left two people dead.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, is classifying Thursday’s storm chances as high risk in parts of Oklahoma and Kansas – the most severe risk category. The forecast bull’s-eye of the storm includes Wichita, Kansas, and rural areas of southern Kansas and western Oklahoma.

Forecasters say the storms could bring “strong long-track tornadoes” in central and southern Kansas into western Oklahoma along with baseball-sized hail.

The greatest risk area is generally south of Interstate 70 and west of Interstate 135.

Storms have battered Southern Plains and Midwestern states all week, with deaths reported Tuesday in Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

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