And, there is a chance of large hail and/or damaging winds over a broad area later today and tonight.

The answer is a tentative yes. Here is the National Weather Service's new 7-day rainfall amount outlook: Looking beyond seven days, the European (which goes out to ten days) shows the wet pattern continuing days eight through ten in the central and southwest U.S. In fact, the European shows some spots may receive in excess of five inches but is not consistent as to their location. So, for irrigation and other planning purposes, it looks like the unusual July wet spell will at least continue into the first week of August. Addition at 5:45pm.  Here is the 1pm GFS model that just came in. This is the eight day forecast. Same color table as above. The (less accurate) 9-14 day shows a wetter-than-average (for early August) pattern continuing.

Is there anything more ridiculous than the government's Emergency Alert System (EAS)? It is supposed to tell us if there is important weather or news. But, broadcasters already do that. Last night, we had lots of damage from thunderstorms in south central Kansas. But, the KWCH-TV coverage of the storm got cut off by the "required weekly EAS test." The audio was cut and the EAS crawl visually overwhelmed the important storm warning at the bottom of the screen. But, we need it in a national crisis, right? It was not  activated on September 11. Do you really believe Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS, won't cover a story bigger  than September 11?? Our federal government has huge deficits. Let's start by cutting this.

July (and August) are not known for wet conditions in the Central Plains. This July is certainly turning into an exception. Here is the rainfall for the last seven days. click to enlarge More is on the way! Here is the five-day rainfall amount forecast: Considering much of the Plains and West are still suffering from drought, this unusually wet July is certainly helpful.

I've circled the location of the radar indicated tornado. The tornado warning is the red polygon. Take cover now! Radar at 12:17am.

I covered the Tulsa storm on Twitter @USWeatherExpert. Seventy-six miles an hour were the wind gusts at the Tulsa International Airport and power flashes could be seen in many areas of the city. There are widespread power outages. A jetway at the Tulsa Airport was destroyed and there is other damage reported. UPDATE: Lightning-caused fires reported at Union High School and the Doubletree Hotel.

UPDATE: There were more than 30,000 lightning strikes in south central Kansas  and surrounding areas. Click here to see a map .  The lightning pictured above is from the storms starting to cross the border into Oklahoma. However, there are more storms in the middle of the state moving south. Radar from 9:50pm. Last update of the night. Hope you have enjoyed the live blogging. UPDATE: Wednesday morning. The Wichita National Weather Service has a nice summary of the storms here .