Twisters, baseball-sized hail strike Midwest

A photo by KWTV storm tracker Val Castor of a funnel cloud spotted eight miles north of Woodward, Okla., on Saturday, April 14, 2012. / KWTV

Last Updated 5:42 p.m. ET

(CBS/AP) OKLAHOMA CITY - Baseball-sized hail was breaking windows and tearing siding off homes in northeast Nebraska, while tornadoes were spotted in Kansas and Oklahoma on Saturday as forecasters warned residents across the nation's midsection to brace for "life threatening" weather.

Tornado sirens sounded across Oklahoma City before dawn, and at least three possible tornadoes were reported west and north of the city, said Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management official Michelann Ooten. Some homes were damaged, though no injuries were immediately reported in any of the states.

But the most dangerous weather was expected later in the day, and National Weather Service officials issued a stern warning for residents to prepare for overnight storms that could spawn fast-moving tornadoes. Officials said a large area could be at risk for dangerous storms.

A tornado watch is in effect for parts of Iowa until 9:00 p.m. CT; for parts of Nebraska until 8:00 p.m. CT; and in parts of Kansas and Oklahoma until 6:00 pm CT. The weather service called today's weather system "a particularly dangerous situation.

"The threat isn't over with tonight, unfortunately. Severe weather is possible again tomorrow from east Texas and Arkansas and up to into the Great Lakes," said Bill Bunting, chief of operations at the Storm Prediction Center, which is part of the National Weather Service.

"This could go into certainly to overnight situations, which is always of immense concerns to us," Ooten said.

In Nebraska, Boone County Sheriff David Spiegel said the large hail also damaged vehicles and shattered windows in and around Petersburg, about 140 miles northwest of Omaha. Two possible tornadoes were reported father south in Nebraska near the Kansas border, according to the National Weather Service, which confirmed that at least one rain-wrapped tornado touched down in southwest Kansas and another in Oklahoma.

One of the suspected tornadoes in Oklahoma hit near the small town of Piedmont, taking a similar path as a tornado last May that killed several people, Mayor Valerie Thomerson said.

"Because of last year, we've had a lot of new people put storm centers into place," the mayor said, adding that no major damage had been reported. "We're all very anxious about this afternoon."

The Storm Prediction Center, which is part of the National Weather Service, gave the sobering warning that the outbreak could be a "high-end, life-threatening event."

Tornado hits Norman, Okla., causing minor injuries
Storm forecasters: "Catastrophic" damage possible in Kansas, Missouri

It was just the second time in U.S. history that the center issued a high-risk warning more than 24 hours in advance. The first was in April 2006, when nearly 100 tornadoes tore across the southeastern U.S., killing a dozen people and damaging more than 1,000 homes in Tennessee.

It's possible to issue earlier warnings because improvements in storm modeling and technology are letting forecasters predict storms earlier and with greater confidence, said Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service. In the past, people often have had only minutes of warning when a siren went off.

"We're quite sure (Saturday) will be a very busy and dangerous day in terms of large tornadoes in parts of the central and southern plains," Vaccaro said Friday. "The ingredients are coming together."

The city of Norman, Okla., home to the University of Oklahoma campus, got a preview of the potential destruction on Friday when a twister whizzed by the nation's tornado forecasting headquarters but caused little damage. Norman Regional Hospital and an affiliate treated 19 people for mainly "bumps and bruises," hospital spokeswoman Kelly Wells said.

[cbsjb1954]

When the "Weather Bureau" started, forecasters were forbidden to use the term tornado, as it might start a panic among the public. Now tornado, by itself, isn't frightening enough; announcers are to add "catastrophic", "life-threatening" etc. to give the warnings teeth.

[bobnjersey]

[Baseball-sized hail was breaking windows and tearing siding off homes in northeast Nebraska]
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so ... where are the pics of this alleged baseball sized hail?

why not make them basketball sized ... or medicine ball sized ... yeah yeah ... that's how big they were ... they were bigger than your head!

[bingham22]

Are you stupid or something? Have you never seen the holes through folks roofs which go right through the roof and into the plywood? Here in Oklahoma we see this every year. We got hit with baseball sized hail last October and have just now finished completely replacing our metal roof which was hammered. Basically anything plastic had holes in it, and anything metal was hammered in. Not to mention that our concrete storm shelter also has to be replaced due to all the chunks of concrete and large cracks caused by the sheer velocity of the wind driven hail. Our neighbor also has a metal roof and he got holes right through his metal roof. Giant hail is dangerous and terrifying to endure.

[inbethlehem]

We got hit with some really nasty jagged-edged hail that was elongated in shape and about as big as a roll of quarters. It was a really scary experience. The damage to roofs and siding and windows in my neighborhood was really extensive.

I can't imaging the poor folks who were pelted by BASEBALL sized hail, which as far as I know, is about the upper limit for hail. Amazing nobody was killed.

[RivalryMaker]

Why are so many journalists around the country completely unable to locate the midwest? Oklahoma and Texas are not part of this region.

[hypnotoad72]

Blame teachers, ineffectual as they are:

http://www.good.is/post/american-teachers-do-more-work-for-less-pay-than-their-international-peers/

Too busy to do a proper job for each student so the student can improve or learn something properly...

[RivalryMaker]

Blame teachers, ineffectual as they are:
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I guess so. Even the AP cannot categorize states in their correct region. Even when the AP Style Book outlines the regions in very simple terms.

[train99]

Why don't you people just talk about the weather!

[jaylark]

The stronger language should be used to jolt people into action. The new warning levels: Mass Devastation, Unsurvivable, & Catastrophic will evoke fear and urgency in the minds of people to take the threat of severe storms & tornadoes more seriously. This is a step in the right direction that will save many lives. With the unseasonable warm weather during the early part of 2012, we can expect even more massive & dangerous storms to develop, putting millions of people at risk. The 24 hour warning notice will give people time to prepare & plan for the worst, hopefully saving many lives.

[tvwatcher5345]

i wonder if inhofe can hear the message God is sending, i used to think about moving south to florida because i hate the cold, if we have winter like this in the future up north there is no reason to move

[jeannutson]

Huge losses in form of structural and property damage often result from such natural disasters which adversely impact the national economy.

[hypnotoad72]

Except we're a global economy now...

Well, at least "global" in terms of who prospers from it the most...

[SoCal_Gridlock]

I have serious mixed emotions about this. For the sake of the people in the danger zone I hope the weather service is wrong.

However, if the meteorologists are correct they may be able to save more lives in the future due to better forecasting and a proven track record.

[bingham22]

Absolutely, and they are getting better and better at it. Here in Oklahoma we have been expecting this for the last week and everyone has been preparing. We are all hunkered down and out checklists for preparation are finished. We take these things VERY seriously here. The skies today are as wild as can be and all the hallmarks of a serious outbreak are in place as we have seen them before. It is going to be a LONG night here.

[ajk_cbsnews]

Be afraid, be VERY AFRAID!