The FOX Forecast Center is tracking a series of frontal boundaries around the country that will be the focal points of showers and thunderstorms on Thursday, with a few that could turn severe.
The Storm Prediction Center has highlighted communities in the Plains, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and Carolinas for having the best chance of seeing severe storms.
Included in the threat zones are communities still cleaning up from Wednesday’s active weather.
At least one tornado tore through eastern North Carolina within the last 24 hours, causing extensive damage to a major Pfizer processing facility.
And in western Kentucky, a Flood Emergency was declared after rainfall amounts topped 10 inches around the hard-hit town of Mayfield.
Despite the extreme weather, no fatalities were reported from either event as of Thursday morning.
EF-3 TORNADO CAUSES EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO A PFIZER MEDICINE PROCESSING FACILITY IN NORTH CAROLINA
More than 40 million Americans are under a heightened threat for severe storms on Thursday, with a region over the southern Plains under a ‘very likely’ threat for severe storms.
Similar to Wednesday, hail, gusty winds and heavy rainfall will be the main threats from storms that develop, but an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out.
“We consider wind to be damaging when it reaches around 60 miles per hour. But in southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, and the Oklahoma panhandle, we have the potential for wind gusts topping 75 miles per hour,” said FOX Weather meteorologist Kelly Costa.
LIFE-THREATENING FLOODING PUMMELS WESTERN KENTUCKY, SUBMERGING HOMES AND STRANDING RESIDENTS
Communities such as Denver, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Charlotte, and Columbia, South Carolina, are all in a level 2 out of 5 risk zone on the SPC’s thunderstorm risk category scale.
The risk level increases to a level 3 out of 5 in southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, Oklahoma and northeastern New Mexico.