KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The National Weather Service warns of a possible tornado outbreak in the Great Plains Thursday with conditions similar to a deadly day in 1974 when 39 tornadoes touched down.

Computer forecasting models resemble those on June 8, 1974, when more than three dozen tornadoes touched down in the southern Plains and killed 22 people, including six in Emporia.

NWS meteorologist Robb Lawson said, "This event warrants more advance warning."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center has been warning for days of the outbreak.

Mike Smith is CEO of WeatherData, a subsidiary of AccuWeather. He said some forecasters are predicting the tornadoes could hit a corridor stretching from northern Oklahoma to central Iowa. That area would include much of Kansas and northwest Missouri.

Smith said, "If you take April dynamics and June thermodynamics, you have a potentially disastrous combination."

"An issuance of a moderate risk for severe weather two days out isn't all that uncommon for the Storm Prediction Center, but for local forecasters to note that this particular weather system has characteristics similar to past storms that produced a number of killer tornadoes is pretty unusual," said KCTV5 meteorologist Devon Lucie.

Lucie said he thinks a high risk for severe weather will eventually be issued for parts of northern Kansas and southern Nebraska for Thursday.