Severe storms prompt tornado watches in the Dakotas

Thunderstorms in the northern Plains led to the threat of tornadoes in the Dakotas on the evening of Aug. 5.

Transcript

00:00Here's the overall setup of what we are tracking with our AccuWeather exclusive storm zone.

00:04This is primarily going to stretch from central parts of Nebraska all the way through the Canadian border

00:08with the bullseye primarily for the Dakotas and far northeastern parts of Nebraska.

00:13Any storms that form in this highlighted region will be capable of producing large hail, damaging winds, flooding rainfall,

00:19and yes, we'll even be watching out for an elevated tornado threat.

00:22As of right now, no tornado warnings, but we do have a tornado watch in effect for this highlighted region.

00:27You can see that that's the latest here. A one-hour radar loop is showing that all those little yellow boxes you see on the map,

00:34those are all severe thunderstorm warnings issued by the National Weather Service.

00:38This big red box you're seeing right there, that is a tornado watch that's in effect here for that region.

00:45I just spoke a little too soon. That southern storm that I previewed previously here on radar

00:51has just now produced enough low-level rotation to warrant a tornado warning.

00:55So we now have our first tornado-worn storm of the day here for that region.

00:59That's going to be in far southern parts of North Dakota that we're going to be tracking right now.

01:02That's going to be on that main cluster of storms.

01:04The southernmost storm is normally the one that has the highest potential for producing low-level rotation.

01:09But yes, if you're in that tornado-worn storm, go and take your immediate tornado precautions.

01:13You want to shelter in the lowest level of your structure, in an interior room, bedroom, or closet, bathroom included.

01:20And you also want to try to shelter in an area that does not have any windows.

01:23So we're going to be continuing to track this potential, Jeff, here as we head into tonight.