Now is the time to firm up your severe weather plans as thunderstorms, energized by a powerful jolt of jet-stream energy, bring an imminent threat of severe weather to some places. More and more areas will experience that threat as severe storms become more widespread through Saturday.

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has issued the following:

• A tornado watch is in effect until 4 a.m. CDT for a large swath that spans from eastern Texas east into extreme western Missisippi, including Shreveport, Louisiana; El Dorado , Arkansas; and Greenville, Mississippi