US Great Plains Brace for Possible Tornados: Weather Watch

States across the Great Plains in the US are bracing for possible severe thunderstorms — which may include tornadoes and hail. The areas at risk include parts of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri Friday and that expands into Oklahoma and Texas on Saturday, the US Storm Prediction Center said.

A tornado plowed through suburban Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday, damaging hundreds of homes and other structures as it tore for miles along farmland and into subdivisions.

A tornado and severe thunderstorm watch is up across parts of Oklahoma and there were earlier reports of a possible tornado swirling in the area of Interstates 40 and 44, according to the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, critical fire weather continues across eastern New Mexico and West Texas on Friday. This persists into Saturday, spreading a bit into parts of Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas. Red flag fire warnings are currently up in New Mexico, Texas and parts of Montana.

Elsewhere in the US, there will be high winds across Southern California. In the Northeast, the chill is still lingering, yet New York City may reach 83F (28C) Monday.

Top photo: Storm clouds hang over farm fields in Chatsworth, Illinois, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019. Inconsistency is the one constant coming out of a major U.S. crop tour that kicked off on Monday as scouts get to see first hand the impact of wild weather on Midwestern corn and soybean fields.