Severe thunderstorms packing damaging winds and large hail are expected to hit the Houston area late tonight into early Thursday morning, forecasters warn.

West Texas and the Panhandle will have the highest chances for hail, while San Antonio has a slight chance of encountering weaker storms.

Monday is probably the peak, but a storm risk shifts eastward Tuesday. Cities in the highest risk for tornadoes include Minneapolis and Rochester in Minnesota.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A powerful storm downed trees and power lines, leaving more than a half million customers in Pennsylvania, Ohio and neighboring states in the dark on Wednesday morning, with local officials reporting at least three deaths.

At least four people were killed in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and hundreds of thousands of customers were without power after severe weather that had torn across the High Plains and Upper Midwest earlier this week pushed into the Northeast and Canada.