Violent storms, dangerous tornadoes expected across central states Friday

An outbreak of severe weather, including the potential for “strong to potentially violent tornadoes” from “long-track” storms, is expected across the central United States and the Mississippi Valley on Friday. An expansive area of concern has been plastered across outlook maps issued by the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, which has taken the unusual step of including 10 million Americans from Iowa to Mississippi under a Level 4 out of 5 severe weather risk.