Minneapolis among Midwest cities facing severe weather threat overnight and into Tuesday

MINNEAPOLIS – Severe thunderstorms, with destructive winds, hail and a few tornadoes, are expected to impact several states across the Midwest overnight and into Tuesday.The extreme heat shifting to the Midwest and abundant moisture are helping to fuel a stretch of severe weather through midweek, according to the FOX Forecast Center. As the heat worsens, many major Midwest cities, such as Minneapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee, will experience heat index readings of more than 100 degrees. Numerous record highs are forecast to fall as the heat slowly nudges toward the Appalachians.The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued multiple Severe Thunderstorm Watches for portions of the northern Plains and Upper Midwest into Monday night.Clusters of strong to severe storms are expected to slide across the region through early Tuesday morning, prompting Severe Thunderstorm Warnings and an occasional Tornado Warning.On Monday evening, a storm spotter reported hailstones as large as 4 inches in diameter near Inman, Nebraska, which damaged a car windshield.WATCH: TRAMPOLINE FLIES OVER ALABAMA HOME DURING SUDDEN GUSTSThe SPC issued a Level 3 out of 5 threat for severe weather for nearly 5.5 million people, impacting major cities such as Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Bloomington in Minnesota, as well as Sioux Falls in South Dakota.HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHERSevere storms are expected to evolve within this zone extending from the northern and central High Plains eastward to Wisconsin overnight and into early Tuesday, the SPC said.Large to very large hail, a few tornadoes and swaths of severe and potentially damaging wind gusts are expected, especially across parts of South Dakota, northern Nebraska, central and southern Minnesota and into Wisconsin.A few severe storms producing hail and strong wind gusts also swept across parts of the interior Northeast and southern New England on Monday. The NWS received reports of hail from upstate New York to New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Long Island, New York.Severe thunderstorms are possible again Tuesday, primarily across the Great Lakes region and portions of the Upper Midwest.Cities included in Tuesday’s severe weather threat are Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and Cleveland.