Central U.S. Braces for Yet Another Wave of Severe Storms

Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Central U.S. Braces for Yet Another Wave of Severe Storms More than 125 million people face some risk of severe weather on Tuesday, forecasters warned, amid a multiday outbreak of storms. Listen · 4:31 min Share full article 1 Forecast risk of severe storms for Tuesday Source: National Weather Service The New York Times By Erin McCann Adeel Hassan and Judson Jones Erin McCann is an editor on The Times’s weather team. Judson Jones is a reporter and a meteorologist on The Times’s weather team. April 14, 2026 Updated 4:00 p.m. ET More than 125 million people across a large portion of the United States are facing a threat of severe weather that could include heavy rain, tornadoes, strong wind and hail on Tuesday afternoon and evening. By mid-afternoon, the first tornado watch of the day was in place, covering most of Iowa, southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. This specific tornado watch falls just short of downtown Chicago, and is the corridor from Des Moines to Milwaukee where forecasters are most worried about the potential for significant tornadoes later in the evening. Tuesday’s severe weather is part of a multiday breakout of storms that forecasters expect to last through the weekend. On Monday night, tornadoes were reported across Kansas, Minnesota and Iowa. One hit the city of Ottawa, Kan., shortly before 8 p.m. on Monday, Adam Weingarten, the police chief, said in an interview with the local television station KSHB. The tornado damaged several businesses and homes, he said. On Tuesday, the local authorities were still surveying the damage, but said no one had been killed. In Miami County, Kan., a rural area of 35,000 residents about 30 minutes south of the Kansas City metro area, a tornado touched down for several miles, damaging 100 buildings. “Somewhere around 50 or 60 are either completely destroyed, or have been found not able to be habitable,” Matthew P. Kelly, a deputy sheriff, said in a...