Wide area of U.S. faces unusual tornado threat in January

A wide area of the central and southeast United States faces the unusual threat of tornadoes in January over the next 12 to 18 hours as an approaching cold front clashes with unusually warm air, a meteorologist said on Tuesday. The first tornado warning of the approaching storm was issued for western Missouri, said meteorologist Bill Bunting at the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.