Oklahoma City, Kansas City placed under Tornado Watches on Wednesday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The threat of severe weather across the central U.S. put millions of people on alert for powerful thunderstorms on Wednesday.The threat came as a large dip in the jet stream ejects out of the Rockies and into the Plains, setting the stage for storms. A 70 mph wind gust was reported in central Oklahoma on Wednesday afternoon as the storms raced off to the northeast.A Tornado Warning was issued for counties southeast of Des Moines, Iowa, due to what was considered to be Doppler radar indicated rotationNOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) placed more than 3 million people from Oklahoma to Missouri in a Level 3 out of 5 risk on its 5-point severe thunderstorm risk scale, including the Kansas City metro area.Parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri were under Tornado Watches until after sunset.Other major cities from the southern Plains to the mid-Mississippi Valley face a Level 2 out of 5 threat, including Dallas and Oklahoma City. “Wednesday is when we’re going to have the greatest possibility – North Texas all the way into the Missouri Ozarks, north into Kansas City,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Stephen Morgan said. “There’s going to be a sector here that large hail, damaging winds, could be a significant threat.”As the front continues racing east, there will be less storm energy, transitioning this system into a rain event. Cities including Dallas, Little Rock and Memphis could have a rainy Halloween with some thunderstorm activity. The moisture is badly needed across many parts of the U.S. that are in drought and facing dangerous fire weather conditions. Parts of Kansas and Oklahoma are under Fire Weather Warnings this week as critical fire weather continues driven by strong winds and very dry vegetation.Severe weather is also possible within a narrow zone extending from the Midwest to East Texas on Halloween.The SPC has highlighted nearly a dozen states for a Level 1 out of 5 risk of severe storms.That risk area includes cities such as Indianapolis; Memphis, Tennessee; and Shreveport, Louisiana.