The Manhattan area may very well see it’s first taste of severe weather late Friday.

The Storm Prediction Center has placed Riley, Pottawatomie, and Geary counties into the Slight (Level 2) risk for severe weather this evening with the main threats being hail up to half dollar size, and damaging winds up to 70 mph.

As far as timing of storms, we may see showers start moving through the area as early as 5 pm, with thunderstorms to follow as early as 8pm, with the main threats pushing past the area after 3 am Saturday.

Large hail is possible along with damaging winds up to 70 mph with these storms which may damage property, and can injure persons and animals outdoor. Thankfully these seem to be the only risks with these systems as tornado probability is very low.

In addition of severe weather expected Friday night, there is also very high fire danger Friday, as very little moisture has fallen in the area, allowing the ground to remain dry and extremely combustible. We expect wind gusts to move south to north today with gusts as high as 25mph.

As always you may tune into News Radio KMAN, or any of our Manhattan Broadcasting family of stations whenever severe weather strikes to get the latest information.