Tornadoes are among nature's fiercest furies. Despite the destruction they can cause, the mechanism that results in tornadoes isn't well understood.

About 47 million people faced an enhanced to moderate severe storm threat from Madison, Wisconsin, to Birmingham, Alabama.

High winds are whipping up wildfires in Texas on Friday as a roiling low pressure system moves east and threatens to land powerful tornadoes in the Plains and beyond.

Scattered twisters and storm damage led to the deaths of at least 13 people in Missouri, including a 30-year-old man who along with his dog was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after he was using a generator indoors during the storm, authorities said. In Arkansas, officials confirmed three deaths.

Residents and work crews in the South and Midwest are beginning to clean up and survey the destruction from a series of storms that kicked up wildfires, tornadoes and dust storms