Weather forecasters warn about a major multiple-day outbreak of severe weather that includes multiple strong tornadoes from the Mississippi Valley to the Gulf Coast, Great Lakes and Atlantic coast through the weekend.

Strong tornadoes, winds gusting over 70 mph and destructive hail are possible.

Intense storms with winds gusting up to 90 mph and hail the size of baseballs are forecast to strike a large area of the Midwest and South on Friday, the National Weather Service warned.

The tornado, creating gusts of up 85 mph, left a trail 80 yards wide and a mile long, damaging homes, plowing over trees, taking down power lines and rupturing water pipes, authorities said. It hit a mile west of the 605 Freeway.

A major storm continued to wallop much of Southern California on Thursday morning, bringing evacuation warnings, fears of mudslides and heavy mountain snow.

It's time to charge your cell phones. Nashville is facing a weekend of severe storms. State of play: The first wave of serious storms is expected to arrive late Friday night, according to the National Weather Service.