CNN –
Parts of the central United States face their biggest thunderstorm threat in months on Wednesday as the second severe storm season begins.
A cold front from the west clashed with intense fall warmth across the central and eastern United States Wednesday afternoon and caused severe thunderstorms. These storms could produce potentially powerful tornadoes in the evening.
A Level 3 of 5 severe thunderstorm threat from the Storm Prediction Center is in effect for more than 5 million people, including residents of Kansas City and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
This is the first threat of Level 3 or higher for Kansas City and other areas in the region since mid-July.
Severe storms broke out early Wednesday afternoon in parts of Kansas and Nebraska and quickly moved into parts of Iowa and Missouri. These thunderstorms will become stronger and more widespread during the late afternoon into early evening. Potential threats include damaging wind gusts, large hail, and a few tornadoes, some of which may be EF2 or stronger.
A less significant but more widespread Level 2 of 5 severe thunderstorm threat spreads from northern Texas to southern Iowa and includes Dallas and Oklahoma City. The tornado threat is less significant here, but isolated tornadoes can still form and damaging winds and large hail remain serious threats to more than 12 million people.
There is increasing concern about the tornado threat given how frequent tornadoes are in the United States throughout the year. The number of tornadoes reported so far this year is the second highest on record, behind only 2011’s 2,156.
Wednesday’s extreme setup is typical for fall. Violent thunderstorms are most common in the spring and summer, but a second wave of dangerous storms and tornadoes occur during the fall and winter, as cold air from the north often collides with warm, moist air flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico.
But the tornado threat so far this fall has been anything but typical. The bulk of the tornadoes came from Hurricanes Helen and Milton.
Milton produced dozens of tornadoes in Florida — an extraordinary amount for a tropical system and state — including the state’s strongest tornado in more than half a century and an EF3 tornado that claimed several lives in Polk County.
