WICHITA, Kan. – Millions of people in the central U.S. faced another dangerous day of severe weather on Tuesday – just a day after tornadoes blasted across portions of Minnesota and Nebraska in the Midwest.

The action kicked off early Tuesday morning when severe thunderstorms plowed across Kansas, where a record 101-mph wind gust was reported in Wichita.

On Tuesday night, the threat of damaging winds continued, with wind gusts of up to 75 mph and baseball-sized hail. 

NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) placed more than 1.3 million people in portions of south-central Kansas and north-central Oklahoma in a Level 4 threat on its 5-point severe thunderstorm risk scale.

Cities under the severe weather threat included Wichita and Hutchinson in Kansas and Tulsa, Enid and Stillwater in Oklahoma.

The SPC received around half a dozen reports of tornadoes, with hail and wind being the primary hazards from the activity.

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Indianapolis, Chicago in bull’s-eye for severe weather Wednesday

As we head into Wednesday, the same cold front responsible for Tuesday’s storms will push farther off to the east, putting cities like Indianapolis and Chicago on alert.

The FOX Forecast Center said that the severe weather threat on Wednesday will be conditional based on how much sun and surface heating can occur before the cold front arrives in the area.

Storms could turn severe during the morning hours associated with a mesoscale convective system (MCS) across the northern Midwest states that could also dampen the severe weather threat during the afternoon hours.

To the south of that, there will be plenty of storm energy, daytime heating and moisture in the atmosphere for powerful storms to develop during the afternoon hours.

There’s also a narrow window of opportunity for supercell thunderstorms to develop, and that threat may be maximized depending on how much wind shear will be available.

The SPC placed more than 10 million from Missouri to Michigan in a Level 3 out of 5 threat on Wednesday, including for those in cities such as Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Toledo in Ohio.

More than 38 million people from Oklahoma to the Great Lakes have been placed in a Level 2 threat, including Oklahoma City, Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit.

Large hail and damaging wind gusts are the main concerns, but tornadoes cannot be ruled out.

New York City, Philadelphia on alert for storms on Thursday

By Thursday, tens of millions of people along the Interstate 95 corridor from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast and New England will be on alert for severe weather on Thursday.

The FOX Forecast Center said some rain and storms are possible on Wednesday, but the main event kicks off on Thursday.

An area of low pressure is expected to move into the lower Great Lakes region and upper Ohio Valley, pushing a cold front into the Northeast and through the central Appalachians.

The atmosphere is expected to become unstable Thursday ahead of the cold front, setting the stage for scattered thunderstorms to develop. At this time, damaging winds appear to be the greatest threat from storms that develop.

The SPC placed about 54 million people from North Carolina to the U.S.-Canada border in northern New England in a Level 2 out of 5 threat.

Major cities in the region, like New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, are all in the threat zone.