detroit – Wednesday marked the third consecutive day of severe weather across the country's northern tier as a cold front marked the boundary of a collision of air masses.
Hail, high winds and tornado damage were reported across the eastern Great Lakes region, but the worst damage appeared to be in northern Ohio.
Tornado warnings were issued for areas across the Buckeye State as the storm moved from west to east across the state.
Tornado watches were also issued for cities including Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which lasted well after sunset.
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Homes and businesses damaged in Bucyrus, Ohio
Significant damage was reported by local authorities in the northern Ohio town of Bucyrus.
Police advised residents to stay off roads while crews worked to remove debris and downed power lines.
One resident told FOX Weather he was one of five people inside the Family Dollar store when the storm's high winds caused the roof to partially collapse.
Video taken after the cell was cleared showed extensive damage to the store.
“Everyone is fine, thank God! It's scary though,” said Liu Berry.
Images of similar damage were taken around town, and PowerOutage.us estimated that more than 20% of Crawford County was without power.
The National Weather Service office in Cleveland is tasked with surveying the damage from Wednesday's storm and determining the number of tornadoes that affected the area and their strength on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
Significant damage was also reported in Windham Township, about a two-hour drive from Bucyrus.
Portage County Emergency Management said at least one tornado touched down in the area and a damage assessment was underway Wednesday evening.
At least 17 tornadoes were reported in the Midwest on Tuesday, seven of which were already confirmed by the National Weather Service's storm survey. The strongest twister so far is rated EF-2 south of Virgil, Kansas. Another tornado south of Topeka, Kansas, overturned an RV and injured at least two people.
Strong front brings new threat on Thursday
On the heels of this system that produced severe storms earlier in the week, a new system will burst out of the Rocky Mountains, pushing much colder air and bringing chaotic storms and severe weather to the South.
Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms with potentially damaging winds, large hail, and possibly a few tornadoes are possible from parts of the lower Ohio Valley to the southern Plains on Thursday.
SPC has issued a Level 3 threat for the area of concern. Cities affected include St. Louis, St. Charles, and Florissant in Missouri, as well as Evansville, Indiana, and Clarksville, Tennessee.
April is the most active time of year for tornadoes in the United States.
The FOX Prediction Center said storms along the southern edge of the cold front could be most intense, producing damaging wind gusts and large hail from southwest Missouri to Texas.
From Friday into Sunday, the front will slow and potentially stall briefly, resulting in repeated showers and storms from Texas to parts of the South Central region.
Much of the region has been fairly dry recently, which should limit the overall flash flooding threat. However, repeated storms can cause localized flooding.
As the cold front moves south, colder air will move south from Canada, creating a noticeable temperature change, according to the FOX Prediction Center. Areas of the south-central Plains that were in the 80s earlier in the week will have a hard time getting highs out of the 50s by Thursday.
“This cold air will reach all the way to Interstate 20,” said FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin. “So if you live on the Gulf Coast, that's not you…If you drive into Shreveport, you'll feel it.”
Florida's summer heat is heating up early, with record high temperatures possible this week
The drop in temperatures will gradually spread south and east over the weekend, with regions east of the Rocky Mountains, excluding Florida, expected to reach near-normal to below-normal temperatures by the end of this week. The coldest temperatures compared to average in mid-April are in parts of the highlands, where maximum temperatures can be 15 to 20 degrees above average.