Hundreds of thousands without power as severe storms push through Midwest
As cooler air clashed with hot and humid air, volatile storms erupted, triggering heavy downpours and numerous outages across the Midwest.
Severe thunderstorms were erupting over portions of the Midwest and Plains into Monday evening as much cooler air clashed with hot and humid air that had been in place over the past few days. Widespread power outages were reported Monday from Michigan to Pennsylvania.
Hundreds of thousands of households and businesses were without service, with over 173,000 outages reported in just Michigan alone as of 6:30 p.m. EDT, according to PowerOutage.us. Consumers Energy, the utility that serves the state, reported that the number of customers without power has continued to "increase rapidly."
Approximately 13 million people live in the area where AccuWeather forecasters had predicted a moderate risk of severe weather. These storms are forecast across portions of the Northeast on Tuesday, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.
The storms within this complex and in other areas were expected to unleash the potential for AccuWeather StormMax™ wind gusts of 85 mph, significant hail and perhaps a couple of tornadoes.
As the strengthening storms pushed through the western suburbs of Chicago during the early afternoon hours, gusts between 40 mph and 50 mph were already being recorded. It is possible that more storms would erupt over central and northern Illinois Monday evening.
There is a possibility, if the complex of storms produces consistent or intermittent damaging winds through a distance of 400 miles, it could be called a derecho.
Motorists and airline passengers passing through the severe weather zone should be prepared for significant travel delays. Some low-lying roads could be blocked by water as high winds could also topple over trees onto roadways.
In the wake of the front that will act as a trigger for the severe weather over the Midwest, temperatures will be slashed by 8-15 degrees Fahrenheit. Highs in Chicago will be close to 80 on Tuesday, as opposed compared to a high in the upper 80s on Monday.
As the front continues to shift eastward, it will set the stage for a dangerous weather setup across parts of the Northeast during the day on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the most potent storms are likely to fire along the Interstate 81 corridor in the Appalachians and Great Lakes region, as well as the I-91 zone in northern New England.
The greatest threats from the storms will be from lightning strikes, localized flooding downpours and wind gusts that can reach 70-80 mph. Some of the strongest storms may also produce hail in a few places.
The storms are likely to be past peak strength as they approach New York City and Boston later Tuesday night but may still be robust as they push across the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia areas Tuesday evening.
Despite the potential for flooding and travel disruptions, the rainfall from the downpours will be beneficial as vast areas of the Northeast are in moderate to extreme drought, according to last week's United States Drought Monitor report.
Much cooler air will sweep in behind the front during the latter part of this week in the Northeast.
Some of the biggest temperature drops will occur over the higher elevations of the Appalachians, where highs in the upper 80s into Tuesday will be swapped with highs in the lower 70s and even the low 60s by Thursday. Nighttime lows by the end of the week will be in the 40s and 50s over the interior with widespread 60s along the I-95 corridor.
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