DALLAS — A multi-day severe weather pattern that has already brought tornadoes and blistering hail to the Mississippi Valley over the past two days continues to threaten tens of millions into Easter Weekend, with perhaps the most dangerous day of thunderstorms still yet to come on Sunday.

Saturday will see the severe storm threat area shift only a bit as the cold front slowly sinks to the south and east. Scattered severe storms are possible along the front from the Ohio Valley through the Mid-South into the Southern Plains on Saturday afternoon and evening, according to the FOX Forecast Center. 

However, some severe weather had already got a head start in Arkansas early Saturday morning. A tornado-warned left a trail of damage in Springdale, with power lines knocked askew, some damaged cars, and metal streetlights bent in half.

Farther north, a severe thunderstorm blew through Indianapolis with a peak gust of 84 mph, leaving over 20,000 in the dark, according to FindEnergy.com.

Storms will reenergize Saturday afternoon and evening across parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley and into the Southern Plains. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has issued a Level 2 out of 5 severe weather threat that covers nearly 12 million, stretching from the heart of Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex — into eastern Oklahoma and southern Missouri.

Supercells could develop with enough storm energy and cold temperatures aloft for large hail and a tornado or two. Storms will eventually develop into a line of storms and charge east. 

The main severe weather threat with these storms overnight will be damaging wind gusts, but repeated storms will also raise worries of flash flooding in much of the same area under the Level 2 threat.

Strong thunderstorm potential extends up into the Ohio Valley and even into the Northeast interior, but those areas remain just under a level 1 threat of severe thunderstorms. All told, over 45 million people are under the threat of severe thunderstorms Saturday. 

Severe weather dangers increase for Easter Sunday

The storm threat contracts geographically, but ramps up in intensity on Easter Sunday as a powerful upper-level storm system moves from the Texas Panhandle into the Midwest during the day.

A rapidly strengthening low pressure center tracking from eastern Oklahoma into Iowa, will carry a potent warm front that will pull in more humid air, adding fuel for severe storms. Daytime heating will further destabilize the atmosphere, allowing thunderstorms to quickly intensify.

A Level 3 out of 5 risk of severe weather covers much of Missouri, including Springfield and Columbia, stretching south into northern Arkansas, including Little Rock. St. Louis sits just outside that risk zone in a Level 2 threat. About 20 million people are inside Sunday’s severe weather threat zone. 

Storms may begin developing late in the morning across eastern Kansas and Oklahoma, with a more organized line of severe storms expected across western Missouri and northwest Arkansas by the afternoon, according to the FOX Forecast Center.  All risks of severe weather — tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind gusts — are on the table.

As the system races northeast, storms will continue moving rapidly into parts of Illinois and possibly southern Iowa. While there’s still some uncertainty about how much instability will be in place, conditions are aligning for potentially significant severe weather.

The severe weather threat wanes overnight Sunday with just general scattered thunderstorms forecast for Monday as the front treks east.