Potentially Deadly Severe Weather/Tornado Outbreak Looms Today In Midwest, East

Areas in yellow, orange and especially red are at risk
for tornadoes today. Some tornadoes might be strong,
long lasting and have a fast forward motion. 

The same complex storm system that has us set up for a winter storm here in Vermont this week is causing plenty of even more dangerous weather in much of the nation.  

This will probably be another storm that causes more than $1 billion in damage. That's because it's hitting so many areas with such a wide variety of dangerous weather. 

Between the giant hailstones in populated areas, the tornadoes, the high winds in severe thunderstorms, the flooding, the power outages and tree damage expected in the interior Northeast and coastal flooding along the East Coast, this one will be expensive.

Already, no fewer than three tornadoes hit parts of the Midwest and Plains Monday, though certain other twisters will be confirmed as meteorologists examine the damage today. 

Perhaps worse, big hailstones hit a number of busy towns and cities in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and other states. One storm in Texas produced grapefruit sized hail. Many other communities saw hail the size of tennis balls or baseballs. 

Winds in some storms gusted as high as 88 mph 

Today, severe weather forecasters are especially worried about Ohio and Kentucky. Ohio has already been hit by destructive tornadoes this year, and it's early in the storm season.

The set up today looks potentially extra dangerous. 

An initial wave of severe storms swept through southern Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky early this morning, producing several tornado warnings and possible actual tornadoes.

Quite a bit of damage was reported with this initial band of storms, and more problems were cropping up before noon as this line swept into West Virginia.  

Famous photograph of a huge tornado in Xenia, Ohio
back in 1974.  Forecasters fear large tornadoes 
could once again hit Ohio today. 

Those storms will clear out by this afternoon, setting the stage for what could be even more powerful supercells this afternoon. 

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center says there's a risk of strong, long-lived tornadoes in Ohio and Kentucky this afternoon and evening.

It's usually time to worry when they start throwing words like that around. 

The numerous intense storms are also expected to have a fast forward motion, meaning they might not be a lot of time for residents to take cover if they are warned about an approaching tornado.

The area around the Ohio River Valley under that tornado threat today is no stranger to big tornado outbreaks during March and April.  The area around Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky suffered through massive, deadly tornado outbreaks during the Palm Sunday Outbreak of 1965, the famous "Super Outbreak" in 1974 and a big swarm of tornadoes in March, 2012,