Dangerous storms rumble from St. Louis to Philadelphia, DC
By
Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Updated Jul 29, 2021 8:00 PM EDT
Damaging thunderstorms erupted and rolled all the way to the East Coast on Thursday.
A "particularly dangerous" situation began to unfold in New Jersey on during the evening as the National Weather Service warned of a possible tornado in an area that included Trenton, Hamilton Square and Princeton, New Jersey. This area holds a population of more than 500,000 people. While the original warning expired, tornado warnings continued to spawn across the state.
"If you are in a tornado warning, take shelter in the lowest floor available to you in an interior room," the Mount Holly NWS office said in a tweet. "Do not try to go out to look for a tornado! Heavy rain is preceding these tornadoes so you will not be able to see it!"
Six preliminary tornado reports spawned from eastern Ohio into Pennsylvania, including one near Feasterville-Trevose in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Feasterville-Trevose sits about a half-hour southwest of Trenton, New Jersey. Another report from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center from Jefferson County, Ohio, noted a partially rain-wrapped near New Alexandria at 5:59 p.m. EDT.
A preliminary storm survey found that an EF0 tornado briefly touched down around the intersection of Fowler Road and State Highway 173 in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, around noon, damaging at least two barns.
Two other reports stemmed from Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and Harrison County, Ohio, respectively. A report from Washington County, Ohio, noted video of an "apparent tornado" touching down near I-77, along with tree damage.
Shortly after 5 p.m., local time, the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport alerted its passengers and employees to seek shelter as a tornado warning was issued for the area. Half an hour later, the warning expired, and the airport noted operations would resume when it was deemed safe to do so. At the moment, no damage has been reported.
The storms rolling through the region are associated with the same weather system that brought damaging winds, hail and isolated tornadoes to parts of the Midwest into Wednesday night.
Wind gusts to near 80 mph were reported as a line of severe thunderstorms developed in Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota on Wednesday evening.
The line of severe storms progressed southeastward through the overnight hours and continued into early Thursday morning in northern Illinois, northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan. There were well over 100 filtered reports of high winds and/or wind damage along an advancing 485-mile-long swath from northwestern Wisconsin to northern Indiana from the fast-moving severe thunderstorm complex. The official criteria for a derecho is for progressive, continuous high winds along a 240-mile-long swath or greater, according to the National Weather Service.
In addition, the destructive winds caused over 100,000 customers to lose power in Wisconsin, according to PowerOutage.US. Farther south, more than 20,000 customers were without power in Illinois at one point Thursday morning. More power outages are anticipated as storms fire along the leading edge of cooler air.
While storms that fire from the middle part of the Mississippi Valley through the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic coast may not be quite as robust as storms from Wednesday night, there will be the risk of severe weather in a zone that spans at least a dozen states on Thursday.
The storms will carry the risk of damaging wind gusts, hail and flash flooding.
A few of the strongest storms have the potential to bring wind gusts between 60 and 90 mph. At this intensity, trees can be knocked over, property damage can occur and trucks and mobile homes might be flipped over. But, even with more common gusts between 40 and 60 mph, tree branches can break, and loose items such as trash cans, lawn furniture, tents and beach umbrellas can be sent airborne. Sporadic power outages are likely, and some city streets may be flooded for a brief time. As the storms erupt near or move through the major airport hubs, such as Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C., airline delays and ground stops are anticipated.
There is even the potential for a couple of isolated tornadoes to touch down.
Wednesday night's complex of severe weather diminished at midday over the central parts of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, but more storms are forecast to re-fire over the Ohio Valley during Thursday afternoon and evening. Storms are predicted to progress southward during Thursday evening from the southern parts of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio into Kentucky.
Damaging winds will be a concern across West Virginia, parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania into Thursday evening, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Matt Benz. Storms will spill over the mountains and make a run toward the coast, he explained.
Thunderstorms, some severe, are forecast to erupt across a wider corridor of the Northeast near a frontal boundary in southern New England into Thursday evening.
As the cool front pushes southward toward the middle Mississippi Valley and parts of the central Plains, thunderstorms will erupt across these regions progress into the overnight hours on Thursday.
A few nasty storms can occur as far to the west as southwestern Iowa, northwestern Missouri, southeastern Nebraska and northeastern Kansas into Thursday night. Storms this far west may be more isolated in nature, but can still produce incidents of large hail, strong winds, flash flooding and perhaps a tornado.
Dry and more comfortable air is likely to take hold over the Great Lakes region by Friday. However, it may not be until later Friday night until another round of showers and thunderstorms clears the central and northern Appalachians and pushes off the New England and mid-Atlantic coast.
Where the front slows to a snail's pace on Friday, storms are likely to erupt and become locally severe over portions of the northern and central Plains to perhaps the Tennessee Valley, the southern Appalachians and Carolina coast.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
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News / Severe Weather
Dangerous storms rumble from St. Louis to Philadelphia, DC
By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Updated Jul 29, 2021 8:00 PM EDT
Damaging thunderstorms erupted and rolled all the way to the East Coast on Thursday.
A "particularly dangerous" situation began to unfold in New Jersey on during the evening as the National Weather Service warned of a possible tornado in an area that included Trenton, Hamilton Square and Princeton, New Jersey. This area holds a population of more than 500,000 people. While the original warning expired, tornado warnings continued to spawn across the state.
"If you are in a tornado warning, take shelter in the lowest floor available to you in an interior room," the Mount Holly NWS office said in a tweet. "Do not try to go out to look for a tornado! Heavy rain is preceding these tornadoes so you will not be able to see it!"
Six preliminary tornado reports spawned from eastern Ohio into Pennsylvania, including one near Feasterville-Trevose in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Feasterville-Trevose sits about a half-hour southwest of Trenton, New Jersey. Another report from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center from Jefferson County, Ohio, noted a partially rain-wrapped near New Alexandria at 5:59 p.m. EDT.
A preliminary storm survey found that an EF0 tornado briefly touched down around the intersection of Fowler Road and State Highway 173 in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, around noon, damaging at least two barns.
Two other reports stemmed from Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and Harrison County, Ohio, respectively. A report from Washington County, Ohio, noted video of an "apparent tornado" touching down near I-77, along with tree damage.
Shortly after 5 p.m., local time, the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport alerted its passengers and employees to seek shelter as a tornado warning was issued for the area. Half an hour later, the warning expired, and the airport noted operations would resume when it was deemed safe to do so. At the moment, no damage has been reported.
The storms rolling through the region are associated with the same weather system that brought damaging winds, hail and isolated tornadoes to parts of the Midwest into Wednesday night.
Wind gusts to near 80 mph were reported as a line of severe thunderstorms developed in Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota on Wednesday evening.
The line of severe storms progressed southeastward through the overnight hours and continued into early Thursday morning in northern Illinois, northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan. There were well over 100 filtered reports of high winds and/or wind damage along an advancing 485-mile-long swath from northwestern Wisconsin to northern Indiana from the fast-moving severe thunderstorm complex. The official criteria for a derecho is for progressive, continuous high winds along a 240-mile-long swath or greater, according to the National Weather Service.
In addition, the destructive winds caused over 100,000 customers to lose power in Wisconsin, according to PowerOutage.US. Farther south, more than 20,000 customers were without power in Illinois at one point Thursday morning. More power outages are anticipated as storms fire along the leading edge of cooler air.
While storms that fire from the middle part of the Mississippi Valley through the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic coast may not be quite as robust as storms from Wednesday night, there will be the risk of severe weather in a zone that spans at least a dozen states on Thursday.
The storms will carry the risk of damaging wind gusts, hail and flash flooding.
A few of the strongest storms have the potential to bring wind gusts between 60 and 90 mph. At this intensity, trees can be knocked over, property damage can occur and trucks and mobile homes might be flipped over. But, even with more common gusts between 40 and 60 mph, tree branches can break, and loose items such as trash cans, lawn furniture, tents and beach umbrellas can be sent airborne. Sporadic power outages are likely, and some city streets may be flooded for a brief time. As the storms erupt near or move through the major airport hubs, such as Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C., airline delays and ground stops are anticipated.
There is even the potential for a couple of isolated tornadoes to touch down.
Wednesday night's complex of severe weather diminished at midday over the central parts of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, but more storms are forecast to re-fire over the Ohio Valley during Thursday afternoon and evening. Storms are predicted to progress southward during Thursday evening from the southern parts of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio into Kentucky.
Damaging winds will be a concern across West Virginia, parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania into Thursday evening, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Matt Benz. Storms will spill over the mountains and make a run toward the coast, he explained.
Thunderstorms, some severe, are forecast to erupt across a wider corridor of the Northeast near a frontal boundary in southern New England into Thursday evening.
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As the cool front pushes southward toward the middle Mississippi Valley and parts of the central Plains, thunderstorms will erupt across these regions progress into the overnight hours on Thursday.
A few nasty storms can occur as far to the west as southwestern Iowa, northwestern Missouri, southeastern Nebraska and northeastern Kansas into Thursday night. Storms this far west may be more isolated in nature, but can still produce incidents of large hail, strong winds, flash flooding and perhaps a tornado.
Dry and more comfortable air is likely to take hold over the Great Lakes region by Friday. However, it may not be until later Friday night until another round of showers and thunderstorms clears the central and northern Appalachians and pushes off the New England and mid-Atlantic coast.
Where the front slows to a snail's pace on Friday, storms are likely to erupt and become locally severe over portions of the northern and central Plains to perhaps the Tennessee Valley, the southern Appalachians and Carolina coast.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo