Several people were killed and dozens more injured as powerful tornadoes and severe storms ripped across Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky and even parts of the Washington, D.C. metro area.

The hottest conditions relative to average will shift from out of the south-central states into the Northwest as summer plays out from June through August.

Mid-May is living up to its reputation for severe weather as an active weather pattern brings the threat of strong tornadoes, damaging hail and intense, destructive wind gusts over multiple days.

Track the severe thunderstorm outbreak here using our maps.

These lake-charged cold fronts are most common in spring and in the past have dropped temperatures dozens of degrees in a single hour.