Tornadoes Slam Oklahoma; More Twisters Due Today

News chopper view of a Tulsa area
tornado Wednesday afternoon. 

Wednesday was the first day of an expected three day spell of severe weather across much of the southern United States, and Oklahoma seemed to get the worst of it.

There were at least six reports of tornadoes in Oklahoma, the worst of which hit in the Tulsa metro area.

You can see dramatic video of the tornado, backlit by the setting sun, taken from a television news chopper at the bottom of this post.

At least seven people were injured, one critically and several homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, reports television station KTUL.

Today, if anything the tornado threat will get worse. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center said there could be a couple strong, long lived tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama or Tennessee in addition to the usual somewhat weaker and not as long lasting twisters you get this time of year.

Very large hail is also possible with these storms, since there's a good supply of cold air aloft to contrast with the warm, humid air near the surface.

Severe storms, tornadoes and hail aren't just limited to Mississippi today. They could happen anywhere from Indiana to the Gulf Coast. Already, early this morning, a tornado watch was up for parts of Louisiana and southern Mississippi.

As expected, the storms were producing torrential rains in the South, an area already saturated by repeated heavy rains and severe floods in February and especially March.

Flash flooding was already occurring this morning in parts of Mississippi, and flash flood watches are up today through Friday for a broad area of the Deep South.

Friday, the threat of severe storms and possible tornadoes will shift east, and be especially focused on southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, the Florida panhandle and much of Georgia.

Here's that wild news chopper video of the tornado around Tulsa, Oklahoma yesterday. Note the multiple vortices within the tornado at about three minutes into the video: