Severe Storms Travel Farther East Into Populated I-95 Corridor

The storms that whipped around the Midwest during the middle of the week are pushing into the Northeast and beyond on Thursday. Read on for more information about where the storms are headed next as the volatile week continues.

Three Zones of Severe Storms on Tap for Thursday

The East Coast is next in line for the stormy conditions that plagued the Midwest, the Ohio Valley, and the Great Lakes earlier in the week. A cold front pushing into the region on Thursday will trigger strong winds not typically seen this time of the year. Forecasters are warning residents of the Ohio Valley and the interior portions of the Northeast to secure all outdoor objects so that they do not become projectiles. Winds gusting up to 50 mph will be the common theme in a zone from Ohio and northern Kentucky to the Appalachians.

Severe storms will grab the headlines in both the Northeast and the Southeast on Thursday. While the storms in the northeastern corner of the country can be blamed on the arrival of the cold front, it will be the residual impacts of Tropical Storm Arthur that will be responsible for the inclement conditions in the southeastern U.S.

Three separate zones of severe weather are in the forecast for Thursday. The northernmost batch of storms will set up over northern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania to the north into eastern New York and New England. To the south, another pocket of storms is in the cards for a swath of land from southern Missouri and northern Arkansas stretching to the east to the Delmarva Peninsula and the capes of New Jersey and Virginia.

New York City is forecast to wake up to scattered thunderstorms on Thursday that give way to drier conditions and partly cloudy skies in the afternoon. The forecast in the Big Apple is also calling for a toasty high of 91 degrees, overnight lows that dip to about the 70-degree mark, and winds out of the south-southwest at 10 to 20 mph.

The rocky weather will hold off until later in the day, moving to the south along Interstate 95. Washington, D.C. will see calm conditions early before scattered thunderstorms fire off in the afternoon. There is the potential for severe storms to roam the nation's capital. Highs will reach the low 90s while winds clock in at a breezy 20 to 30 mph from the southwest. The overnight forecast is calling for cloudy conditions and a low of about 72 degrees.

While the bulk of the thunderstorms will peter out by Thursday in the Ohio Valley and the central Appalachians, it will be the wind that is causing problems for this region. Pittsburgh is preparing for winds gusting to over 40 mph and holding steady between 20 and 30 mph. These speeds will decrease after the sun goes down in the Steel City.

Lastly, a third area of severe storms will menace an area from southeastern Louisiana up into central and southern Georgia as what is left of Arthur tracks farther inland. Forecasters are also warning that the coastal area stretching from eastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle could see waterspout development on Thursday. Cities such as New Orleans, Biloxi, and Mobile will be at risk of high winds, storm surge, and heavy rain at the hands of the fading tropical event.

More Action on Friday Through the Weekend

The highest risk of major storm eruptions on Friday will be in portions of Texas and Oklahoma, the coastlines of Georgia and the Carolinas, and in Florida.  For instance, Savannah, Georgia, will wake up to thunderstorms during the morning hours. The storms will persist for the first half of the day before dissipating. It will be a steamy day in the popular tourist town with temperatures in the mid 80s and high humidity levels. Winds will be whipping around from the west-southwest at 10 to 20 mph.

Although the Plains will enjoy a brief breather from the severe weather by the end of the work week, the atmosphere will simply reload and target the region again on Saturday. A powerful weather maker rolling out of the Rockies will fuel the development of the unsettled conditions across the Plains. A mass of warm and humid air tethered over the southern Plains, clashing with a zone of cooler and drier air across the Midwest, will amplify the storms. The storms will ignite in the wedge between these two competing air masses.

The primary threats over the weekend include gusty winds and hail. Isolated tornadoes could also spin up as the parent storm roars across Nebraska and Kansas and into the Ohio Valley on Sunday. Flash flooding will be a concern in areas that see repeated rounds of rain out of this storm system.

The bottom line is that the severe weather threat is not over for the central U.S. Check back often for all of the latest forecasting information as you plan your weekend.

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