The same outbreak of dangerous storms responsible for at least four deaths on Friday will continue to push eastward tonight into highly populated areas of the Northeast.
The cities most at risk include New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Hartford, Albany, Burlington, Allentown, Scranton and Lancaster.
Locations from Columbia to Charlotte, Raleigh, Virginia Beach, and Boston are not out of the woods either.
The culprit for this outbreak of violent storms is a powerful cold front for this time of year that will be sweeping through the Great Lakes into the Northeast.
Strong southerly winds ahead of this front are ushering in warm and tropical air. At the same time, westerly winds behind the front are driving a fall-like air mass toward the region.
The clash of these air masses will lead to violent upward motion in the atmosphere, and the result will be formidable thunderstorms capable of damaging wind gusts, hail larger than ping pong balls and blinding downpours.
Additionally, a furious twisting motion in the atmosphere caused by the sudden changes in wind direction near and just ahead of the front will lead to a threat of tornadoes, mostly from New York City to Allentown northward to Vermont and eastern New York State.
Earlier Saturday, a cluster of thunderstorms ahead of a main squall line produced as much as 1.4 inches of rain in just 45 minutes in Brooklyn, N.Y. The storms also produced a spotted tornado in Breezy Point, in the borough of Queens.
Throughout the afternoon, numerous reports of wind damage, including structural damage along with downed trees and power lines, came forth from northern New York State and stretched into North Carolina. This threat will continue to expand eastward through the evening hours.
These storms threaten to cause plenty of travel headaches for motorists on major interstates. Drivers on I-95, I-81 and I-80 are all in the crosshairs of possible downed trees, power lines and blinding rain. Conditions will be just as bad on the New York Thruway and the Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania turnpikes.
If you'll be traveling to or from area airports into Saturday night, don't expect anything better, as severe storms will likely cause plenty of flight delays.
Be sure to keep an eye to the sky and keep checking back at AccuWeather.com for all the latest details on this impending severe weather event.
Thunderstorms will slow cleanup efforts in Moore, Okla., into the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.
Join us as we discuss the severe storm threat in the Northeast Thursday and the wet weather lingering into the Memorial Day weekend.
With one day remaining before Memorial Day weekend, the Sandy-battered Jersey coastline is hustling to finish last-minute preparations.
The Memorial Day weekend will begin cool, windy and rainy in New England and part of the mid-Atlantic.
GOES-East failed again late Tuesday. It is one of the main satellites meteorologists use for the eastern part of the United States and the tropical Atlantic.
The tornado tore through a path 17 miles long on Monday and had wind speeds as high as 200 mph.
| Extreme | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| High | N/A | |
| Low | N/A | |
| Precip | N/A |
Fresno, CA (2001)
Six 100+ degree days this month. This broke
the old May record of five days set in May
1889.
Iowa (1882)
Late May snowstorm blanketed eastern part of
state with 4 to 6 inches.
Bahler, KS (2007)
8.25 inches of rain in 24 hours, from the
22nd to 23rd.
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