Parts of the US face their most significant tornado and severe storm threat in months

By Robert Shackelford, Taylor Ward and Eric Zerkel, CNN

(CNN) — Parts of the central US are facing their most significant thunderstorm threat in months Wednesday as second severe storm season kicks into gear.

A cold front from the West clashed with extreme fall warmth across the central and eastern US Wednesday afternoon and spawned severe thunderstorms. These storms could produce potentially strong tornadoes into the evening.

A level 3 of 5 threat for severe thunderstorms from the Storm Prediction Center is in effect for over 5 million people, including those in Kansas City, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This is the first level 3 or higher threat for Kansas City and other areas in the region since mid-July.

Severe storms rumbled to life early Wednesday afternoon in parts of Kansas and Nebraska and quickly pushed into parts of Iowa and Missouri. These thunderstorms will become stronger and more widespread through the late afternoon and into the early evening. Potential threats include damaging wind gusts, large hail and a few tornadoes, some of which could be EF2 or stronger.

A less significant, but more widespread level 2 of 5 threat of severe thunderstorms spreads from northern Texas to southern Iowa and includes Dallas and Oklahoma City. The tornado threat is less significant here, but isolated tornadoes could still form and damaging winds and large hail remain serious threats to more than 12 million people.

There’s heightened concern over the tornado threat given how prolific a year it has been for twisters in the US. The number of tornadoes reported so far this year is the second-most on record, trailing only 2011’s 2,156.

Wednesday’s severe setup is typical for fall. Violent thunderstorms are most common in spring and summer, but a second surge of dangerous storms and tornadoes happens during fall and winter as cold air from the north often collides with warmer, moist air streaming out of the Gulf of Mexico.

But the tornado threat so far this fall has been anything but typical. The bulk of tornadoes came from hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Milton produced dozens of tornadoes in Florida — an exceptional amount for a tropical system and the state — including the state’s strongest tornado in more than a half-century and an EF3 tornado that killed several people in Polk County.

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