AP

This NOAA satellite image taken Thursday at 1:45 a.m. EDT shows dense cloud cover over areas of the Ohio Valley through the Mid-Atlantic as a storm system and associated warm front extend through the Ohio Valley.

Severe thunderstorms are possible Thursday in the central High Plains and the mid-South with damaging winds and large hail the main threats in both locations, the Weather Channel warned.

Weather.com posted a map showing the areas that could be affected that included parts of Virginia, West Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, as well as areas of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska.

Meanwhile, Texas was hit by near-record high temperatures for April, with the city of Childress experiencing 106-degree heat Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the National Weather Service told msnbc.com that was just one degree shy of the record for Texas in April of 107 degrees on April 19, 1925.

Jody James, NWS warnings coordination meteorologist based in Lubbock, Texas, said he hoped the heat was not a sign that there would be a repeat of the wildfires and drought that hit the state last year.

He said it was expected to be a little cooler Thursday with a top temperature of 96 degrees, with Friday hitting the upper 80s and then falling to the low 70s by Sunday.

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