The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch across central and east-central Minnesota, including the entire Twin Cities metro area, until 8 p.m. Thursday.

At least 5,000 Xcel customers are dealing with power outages as severe weather moved through the state Thursday afternoon.

A weeklong severe weather threat continues on Thursday as millions of people in major Midwest cities like Chicago and Milwaukee brace for powerful storms that could pack very large hail, hurricane-force wind gusts and strong tornadoes.

The NWS says severe storms are not a "slam dunk" in the Twin Cities, but everyone should "respect the setup and be ready to respond."

On Monday, 36 million people are under the risk of severe storms in which strong tornadoes, hail up to 2 inches in diameter and damaging straight-line winds are possible.

Two waves could sweep across the Twin Cities, the first during KARE 11 Sunrise and the second in the afternoon/early evening.

Supercell storms could fire Thursday afternoon. There could also be a line of severe storms blasting into southwestern Minnesota on Thursday morning.