Jakarta Aktual – 18 June 2026 | A tornado watch vs warning has been issued for several states, as severe weather swept across the country on Thursday. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center issued a tornado watch for Berkshire County in Massachusetts, which will remain in effect until 3:00 p.m. Thursday. A tornado watch means that a tornado is possible in the area, and residents should take steps to prepare themselves in case one occurs. A National Weather Service radar image shows a band of storms approaching the Berkshires from the west.
The watch includes Berkshire County, as well as parts of Eastern and Central New York and the entire state of Vermont. Residents in the area should review their emergency plans and take inventory of supplies. Identify a safe place to retreat if a tornado forms, such as a safe room, basement or interior room without windows.
A tornado watch means a tornado could form, and residents in the area should prepare in case that happens. A tornado warning means a tornado is either imminent or already occurring, and residents should immediately take shelter in an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building, such as a basement.
In addition to the tornado watch, a flash flood warning is in effect for Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky early Thursday, following overnight storms that also produced radar-confirmed tornadoes and prompted an ongoing tornado watch across the region. The National Weather Service in Wilmington reported radar-confirmed tornadoes in the Florence, Erlanger and Burlington areas after midnight, and another in the Piketon, Beaver and Stockdale in Ohio area around 4:15 a.m.
A tornado ‘likely’ touched down in Dearborn County, Indiana, shortly after midnight, according to the county’s emergency management agency. The storms are part of a larger system that brought severe weather, including tornadoes, across multiple states overnight, with floodwaters now posing the primary concern for drivers across the region early Thursday.
Heavy rain from the storms has led to widespread flooding and dangerous travel conditions, forcing multiple road closures and restrictions. More than 11,000 customers are without power across the region, according to Duke Energy. The hardest-hit areas appear to be in Boone County, including Florence, the area near Westwood in Hamilton County and parts of Clermont County west of Batavia, where outages are most concentrated.
Meanwhile, areas in western and central Massachusetts are under a tornado watch that may expand throughout the day, with much of the state at risk of severe storms, according to National Weather Service warnings. The watch was issued for Berkshire County on Thursday morning and expanded to Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex and Worcester in the afternoon, as well as for parts of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.
The watch extends through 7 p.m., according to NWS, forecasting a possible couple tornadoes, isolated hail up to a half inch size and likely scattered gusts up to 80 mph. NWS forecasts predicted a ‘period of humid and unsettled weather’ with two expected rounds of rainfall Thursday, a round of showers in the morning followed by a chance of strong to severe thunderstorms Thursday afternoon and evening.
Primary threats listed are damaging winds and frequent lightning. The tornado watch may be extended ‘a little further east’ as the day goes on, NWS meteorologist Francis Tarasiewicz warned, encouraging area residents to keep an eye on weather alerts Thursday. How far east the watch goes depends on how much clearing occurs throughout the day, he added, ‘because that sunshine is going to provide some fuel for the thunderstorms.’
Currently, the NWS is tracking a line of thunderstorms across western New York, those are going to quickly make their way east through much of the day. And so they’ll likely be in the western Massachusetts area right after lunchtime, between like 2 and 4 p.m. so it’ll be the greatest risk for severe thunderstorms and even possibly a tornado or two.
