Think we're in deep doo-doo, folks. From accuweather.com:
Damaging Storms Thursday Chicago to Little Rock, Memphis
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist
April 17, 2013; 9:20 PM
The risk of dangerous and damaging thunderstorms will continue Thursday from Chicago and Indianapolis to Dallas, Little Rock and Shreveport.
The storms will organize along an advancing cold front pushing eastward from the Plains and swinging into the Mississippi and Ohio valleys to near the upper Gulf Coast.
The most widespread characteristic of the storms will be strong wind gusts.
Some communities will be hit with downed trees and power outages.
However, a few of the strongest storms can bring a brief tornado.
There is a chance that this tornado threat focuses over an zone from Chicago and northern Illinois to the tri-state area of Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. The risk could materialize if discrete thunderstorms form ahead of an anticipated squall line.
Other traits of the storms will be hail and brief heavy rainfall that can bring flash and urban flooding.
The zone of strong to severe thunderstorms will cause slow travel on the highways and can lead to substantial flight delays in the region, rippling to other portions of the nation well outside of the severe weather threat area.
During Thursday, this area will reach from portions of Missouri to southern Wisconsin but will shift eastward across the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and northern portions of Indiana, Ohio and southwestern Ontario Thursday night.
During Friday, the risk of strong to severe thunderstorms will reach the eastern Great Lakes and the Appalachians. By Friday night, the remnants of the storms will reach the Atlantic Seaboard with localized downpours, gusty winds and travel delays at the very least.
Where is Houston in relation to the danger zones mentioned in the first diagram?
