Nice warm afternoon here on California’s north coast with a bit of sunshine and a gentle breeze.

Not so for the US mid-section — from the National Weather Service: An outbreak of severe storms is forecast this afternoon through tonight from parts of Nebraska through Iowa, northern Missouri, and into Illinois. Destructive winds, very large hail, and a few intense tornadoes are expected.
And weathermen say this front has a “relatively high confidence forecast” to become a “derecho,” those wide complex of thunderstorms with powerful winds: “It’s called a ‘land hurricane,’ and one could develop tonight across the Plains,” CBS Chicago’s Megan Glaros Tweeted.

(Illustration: John Stewart Curry’s ‘Tornado Over Kansas‘ (1929), found here).

Baseballs-size hail has already be reported in Nebraska as the tide moves forward. Two years ago, a derecho-like system smashed its way across the same area, killing nine people and leaving tons of damage in its wake — via the Washington Post in June 2012:

Racing along at speeds over 60 mph, the bowing line of thunderstorms formed west of Chicago around 11 a.m. and by midnight approached the Atlantic ocean.
It left a massive trail of destruction spanning from northern Illinois to the Delmarva Peninsula. The National Weather Service has logged well over 800 reports of damaging winds.

Well, maybe this won’t be one for the record books, but with the environment quickly warming, all bets are off as more and more dangerous, odd-ball weather events become the norm.