Another round of severe weather to keep nation's midsection on alert

A new round of thunderstorms is forecast to become severe across the nation's midsection for a time Friday night, putting residents in places such as Omaha, Nebraska, at risk for damaging thunderstorms.

The stormy weather will set up farther south and west than what occurred at midweek when thunderstorms steamrolled through Wisconsin, northern Illinois and northern Indiana with high winds and a few tornadoes.

"A disturbance in the atmosphere will move through portions of the central Plains into Friday night," AccuWeather Meteorologist Ryan Adamson said.

"As the disturbance moves southward into a warmer and more humid air mass, storms will intensify across central and eastern Nebraska and into Iowa and northern Missouri during Friday night," Adamson said.

North Platte and Grand Island, Nebraska, and Des Moines, Iowa, and St. Joseph, Missouri, are just a few additional locations at risk for feisty storms.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

"The main hazards will be flooding downpours, damaging wind gusts and hail. However, there is a risk for isolated tornadoes as well, especially over eastern Nebraska and into northern Missouri," Adamson said.

Straight-line wind gusts past 60 mph are likely, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 80 mph possible. Such winds can easily snap tree branches and down power lines, leaving some communities without power.

Radar of storms moving through the nation's midsection on Friday evening.

Motorists along stretches of interstates 29, 35 and 80 should be on alert for rapid reductions in visibility from downpours and blowing spray from other vehicles. Secondary roadways may be blocked by debris, adding further hazards to drivers.

AccuWeather meteorologists encourage residents to have a way to receive severe weather alerts during the middle of the night when they may be sleeping and unaware of the weather outside. One such way is by keeping a cellphone on and charged with the volume turned up and severe weather alerts enabled on the AccuWeather app.

The threat of locally heavy to severe thunderstorms will shift southward across the central Plains on Saturday, as drier air sinks into the northern Plains.

The overall risk for severe weather is expected to be lower when compared to the end of the week, but there may be downpours and gusty storms around the Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, metro areas and points southward at the beginning of the weekend. In some cases, thunder form the storms can get people out of bed during the middle of Friday night or before dawn on Saturday.

As the storms progress and build southeastward during the heating of the day on Saturday afternoon and evening, there is the risk of heavy, gusty and locally severe storms from southeastern Kansas to western Tennessee.

At the very least, residents with outdoor activities in these areas may have to alter their plans.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.