A tornado outbreak is likely on Saturday across the central Gulf Coast States and Deep South into the Tennessee Valley. Numerous significant tornadoes, some of which should be long-track and potentially violent,

An outbreak of severe storms is likely Friday afternoon and potentially into the overnight hours as a powerful storm system intensifies across the central U.S. All hazards are possible, including swaths of intense winds and tornadoes.

Thunderstorms are forecast to hit the St. Louis metro region by 7 p.m. They may carry golf-ball-sized hail and tornadoes as strong as EF2.

High winds have caused damage to utility lines, outbuildings and other structures and knocked down trees across the First Alert 4 viewing area on Friday evening ahead of a tornado-producing storm sweeping across the Midwest.

The dangerous outbreak will sweep through the Midwest, South and East through the weekend. Saturday could be one of the worst severe weather days of the year.

The threat of tornadoes is moving east into the Mississippi Valley and Deep South a day after a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that damaged buildings, whipped up dust storms that caused deadly crashes and fanned more than 100 wildfires in several central states.