A windy and warmer day kicks off Friday in Chicago, but a severe storm threat is expected to develop after dark, bringing with it the possibility for damaging winds.

A line of severe thunderstorms, the first extreme weather event of the year, will hit the Chicago area around midnight Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

An "outbreak" of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms is expected through Saturday night in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and other southern states.

The threat of tornadoes in parts of the U.S. proved deadly as whipping winds moved east into the Mississippi Valley and Deep South on Saturday, with at least two people killed in south-central

The threat of tornadoes moved east into the Mississippi Valley and Deep South on Saturday, a day after a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that damaged buildings, whipped up dust storms that caused deadly crashes and fanned more than 100 wildfires in several central states.