Five tornadoes hit the Kansas City area Monday night. Did a change in National Weather Service balloon launches leave forecasters in the dark about the threat for much of the day?

Multiple tornadoes tore through Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin on Friday, leaving heavy damage in Lena, Illinois, and forcing evacuations in Rochester and Marion, Minnesota.

However, the cold front will quickly overtake storms, causing them all to merge into a windy squall line. Tornado and hail risk will decrease, though a few spin-up tornadoes are still possible. Instead, widespread 60 to 75 mph wind gusts will accompany the squall.

Tornadoes and flooding are possible this weekend as roller-coaster weather sweeps the country, with some states experiencing summer-like temperatures as high as 90 degrees despite being in the middle

A new batch of severe storms fired up Wednesday afternoon, dropping softball-sized hail near Kansas City and golf-ball sized hail in Ohio.

Severe weather over the past 48 hours has triggered tornadoes and widespread flooding across several states. In Cheboygan County, Michigan, officials ordered evacuations in low-lying areas after a levee breach raised safety concerns.

More severe weather has slammed parts of the Midwest with several tornadoes, while heavy rain caused flooding from Green Bay to northern Michigan. Ash-har Quraishi reports.

The tornado made “like a whirring sound … and I could hear things being ripped off (the house),” one resident said.

The main threats from the storms include large hail, severe wind gusts, and a limited possibility of tornadoes. Forecasters note uncertainty in the storm's exact timing and location due to disruptions from earlier weather activity.

A trail of damaged homes and buildings dotted a wide swath of the U.S. on Saturday after a burst of destructive winds and reported tornadoes tore off roofs, uprooted trees and rendered rural roads impassable with debris.