Baseball-sized hail and tornadoes are possible Friday for parts of Missouri and Illinois, but risks also extended from the South to Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Intense storms with winds gusting up to 90 mph and hail the size of baseballs are forecast to strike a large area of the Midwest and South on Friday, the National Weather Service warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An area that includes St. Louis, Missouri; Springfield, Illinois; southeast Iowa and western Tennessee and Kentucky are under a \u201cmoderate risk\u201d of damaging storms, but other areas from Louisiana to Ohio and Wisconsin are also at some risk, the agency said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The severe storms will likely be over the Lower and Mid-Missouri Valley, the Mississippi Valley and the Lower Ohio Valley late Friday afternoon into Saturday morning, the weather service said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTornadoes, several of which could be strong, widespread damaging winds with gusts from 70 to 90 mph, and scattered large hail up to baseball size will be possible,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Saturday, Louisiana, including New Orleans, will be under an increased risk of severe storms, with tornadoes possible, forecasters said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It\u2019s going to be later that morning and into the afternoon and evening hours on Saturday where we\u2019re going to likely be seeing a significant severe weather outbreak,” Kevin Gilmore, a meteorologist at the weather service’s office for New Orleans and Baton Rouge, said in a video briefing<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The area was under a threat level of three and four \u2014 or “enhanced” and “moderate” \u2014 out of five levels used by forecasters, which is unusual for this far out in advance, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the Midwest and South are bracing for possible severe storms Friday and Saturday, on Thursday there was a critical risk of fire in Texas and other parts of the Great Plains \u2014 and that extreme danger will continue into the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he was directing additional state resources to respond to \u201cextremely critical wildfire danger\u201d expected to last through the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith dry conditions, wind gusts, and low humidity increasing wildfire danger, Texans are encouraged to make an emergency plan, limit any activities that can cause a spark, and heed the guidance of local officials to keep yourself and your family safe,\u201d Abbott said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The weather service said that on Friday, “potentially historic fire-weather conditions” were likely across the southern Great Plains<\/a> \u2014 with extreme risk in areas that include Lubbock and Wichita Falls in Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the West, a winter storm has been blanketing the Sierra Nevada in California with snow. Tahoe City, on the western shore of Lake Tahoe, got 17 1\/2 inches of snow by 10 a.m. Thursday, the weather service for the region said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The snow was expected to take a break Thursday, the weather service said, but another storm will hit the Sierra on Friday and into Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Los Angeles area, a tornado hit the city of Pico Rivera Thursday morning. The high-end EF-0 tornado around 3:15 a.m. had maximum winds of 85 mph and tracked for around one mile, the weather service said<\/a> after storm surveys were done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trees were uprooted and tree branches torn down, some of which landed on cars and roofs. The tornado itself also caused some roof damage, the agency said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n