Aug. 16 -- In what has been an active week for severe weather across the central United States, more dangerous thunderstorms will come calling into the weekend.
Friday may mark the second consecutive day that some communities get hit with severe weather.
On Thursday night, a tornado was confirmed in a rural part of northeastern Kansas near Alta Vista, while winds gusted to 78 mph at the Whiteman Air Force Base in Johnson County, Mo.
Kansas and Missouri will lie in the heart of the risk area for more severe thunderstorm development at the end of the week. The risk area will also extend westward to portions of Colorado and Nebraska and eastward into south-central Illinois.
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Ongoing thunderstorms early Friday morning will hold back the risk of new severe storms firing up until late Friday afternoon and evening.
All facets of severe weather are possible during this time frame, including damaging winds, very large hail, flash flooding and isolated tornadoes.
Residents from Scottsbluff, Neb., to Kansas City and St. Louis in Missouri. Springfield, Ill., should keep cellphones on and charged with the volume turned up and severe weather alerts enabled before heading to bed as these dangers are expected to last through much of the night.
Straight-line wind gusts that can reach 80 mph will threaten to topple trees and leave some neighborhoods in the dark.
"Motorists venturing on Interstate 70, I-80 and other highways in the region should anticipate travel delays," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
Some roadways may be flooded and impassable or blocked by debris.
"As storms approach the airports, airline passengers are likely to experience flight delays," Sosnowski said.
The start of the weekend is expected to bring about yet another round of severe weather over the Central states.
Leftover storms containing damaging winds and flooding downpours may be ongoing in portions of Kansas, Missouri and Illinois early Saturday morning.
Later in the day, meteorologists say severe thunderstorms may erupt over an even broader area of the central U.S. when compared to Friday, with much of the northern and central Plains at risk.
These new rounds of severe thunderstorms are keeping the active stretch of weather going in the nation's midsection.
The week started with damaging thunderstorms and flooding downpours around the St. Louis metro area on Monday.
Record-breaking hail fell near Bethune, Colorado, during Tuesday afternoon. This day also featured eight tornadoes between Colorado and Minnesota.
More big hail fell on Colorado on Wednesday. However, the biggest story on this day was the significant amounts of small hail that fell in Michigan. Hail piles were as high as 18 inches in some areas of Kalamazoo County.
