’High risk’ of severe weather tonight

The National Weather Service in Norman, Okla,, is predicting an intense tornado outbreak over parts of the Plains and Ozarks for tonight. The agency's Storm Prediction Center said the area, which includes parts of Arkansas, is at high risk of severe weather.

Storms that could spawn strong tornadoes, high winds and large hail are most likely in Northwest Arkansas, east Kansas, southwest Missouri and east Oklahoma.

The highest risk area for severe weather Tuesday now extends from north-central Texas across all of Oklahoma except the far southeast and the western third of the state into south-central Kansas. Also included is far northwestern Arkansas and far southwestern Missouri, where a Sunday night tornado is blamed for nearly 120 deaths.

Scattered and intense thunderstorms are forecast to begin this afternoon.

The agency warns that conditions are ripe for a supercell thunderstorm capable of producing violent tornadoes that track on the ground for miles.

There is the possibility that the storms will organize this evening, heightening the risk for damaging wind and tornadoes.

The severe weather could also include wind gusts of 55 to 75 mph and nearly baseball-sized hail.

Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.

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