Through Sunday, severe weather will mainly target areas from Texas to Illinois and Indiana, and occasionally pulse through the Southeast.
By the middle of next week, a corridor from eastern Montana through the Dakotas and much of the Midwest can face frequent bouts of violent storms.
A northward push in the jet stream will bring about this change in the pattern next week.
"This will help to shift the stormy weather northward into the northern Plains and Upper Midwest, while the central Rockies, central Plains and mid-Mississippi Valley have a drier period," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jack Boston said.
"Severe thunderstorms are likely to push through these northern areas," he added.
The jet stream's northward bulge will allow plenty of heat and humidity to surge across the central United States to the Canadian border.
These are two necessary ingredients for feisty storms to ignite.
In this type of pattern, thunderstorm complexes tend to ride along the northern rim of the hot, humid air, which is their fuel source.
An organized derecho, or long-lived line of powerful storms that cause extensive wind damage, cannot be ruled out next week, according to Boston.
From late Thursday through Friday night, a derecho left a trail of wind damage along an approximate 1,000-mile-long path from near the Nebraska and Kansas border through the southern Appalachians.
The timing and coverage of next week's severe storm threats will become more certain in the coming days.
At this point, people living or planning to travel along a corridor from Bismarck, N.D., to Minneapolis; Des Moines, Iowa; Chicago; Green Bay, Wis.; and perhaps as far east as Detroit and Cincinnati, should keep a close eye on the forecast and look for additional updates on AccuWeather.com in the coming days.
While the steamy weather will have people flocking to local lakes, pools and streams, it will be important for anyone outdoors to have a way to be notified when severe weather is imminent.
As soon as the sky looks threatening or thunder is heard, seek shelter indoors or in a hard-top vehicle to protect yourself from potentially deadly lightning strikes.
The northward shift of the stormy weather will be good news for those in the central and southern Plains who are weary of storm and flood damage cleanup.
While storms can still occasionally pulse through these areas around the middle and latter part of next week, the risk of widespread severe weather will be much lower than in recent days.
