A round of gusty and locally severe thunderstorms will dart through the eastern United States into Thursday evening and target areas from New England to northern Florida. The storms will be the last gasp of a major storm system that roared across the nation's midsection this week and produced a fierce blizzard as well as damaging hail and tornadoes.

The risk of severe weather from Florida to Massachusetts and Vermont will be significantly lower than the powerful storms that brought hail to the size of softballs over the southern Plains and tornadoes that tore through communities from Texas to Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, the storms can still pack a punch and hit some neighborhoods hard with strong wind gusts, torrential downpours and hail into the evening hours of Thursday.

As the storms pivot through the major hubs from New York City to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Charlotte and Atlanta, airline passengers can experience flight delays and turbulence.

"There will be sufficiently warm and humid air in place in the East and the timing for thunderstorms will coincide with the peak of daytime heating into the evening hours on Thursday," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek said.

The storms can grow strong enough to break tree limbs and cause localized power outages. Downpours can be intense enough to lead to brief street and highway flooding. Hail up to the size of peas and marbles can occur in the strongest storms, forecasters say.

The storms in the Northeast will not have to be overly intense to produce powerful gusts and hail as strong winds will be present a few thousand feet above the ground, Dombek said. Some of the storms in the Northeast can occur with little or no thunder and lightning.

With any severe thunderstorm, there is always the risk of a brief spin-up tornado, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.

People spending time outdoors while trying to enjoy the springtime warmth are urged to keep an eye out for changing weather conditions. Showers can begin to produce lightning with little notice during the midday and afternoon hours.

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Dry and cooler air will settle over much of the Appalachians and Atlantic seaboard on Friday in the wake of showers and thunderstorms on Thursday. Since the coldest air will get hung up over the Midwest with milder air from the Pacific Ocean farther to the south and east, temperatures are likely to be only slightly lower at the end of the week, compared to Wednesday and Thursday, in the Northeast and about the same or even a bit higher in the Southeast.

For example, highs in New York City on Friday will be in the upper 60s, compared to near 80 on Thursday. Meanwhile, highs in Atlanta on Friday will be in the upper 70s which will be slightly higher than the high in the lower 70s on Thursday.

Chillier air is likely to find a way into the Northeast, while conditions remain mild in the Southeast for Easter weekend. The chilly air could pave the way for the next storm to bring wet snow or a mix of rain and wet snow over the interior Northeast from late Monday to Tuesday. The storm could evolve into a potent nor'easter.