Severe storms unleash monster hail across middle of country

The weather is warming up and feeling like spring, but Americans who live in parts of the Midwest, East and South are facing the threat of heavy to severe thunderstorms through the middle of the week.

Some of the thunderstorms will not only pose a risk for those seeking an escape outdoors to take a walk, jog or hike while social distancing, but they can also become dangerous for outdoor triage centers and testing facilities related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The severe weather ramped up on Tuesday across the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and mid-Atlantic with over 150 reports of hail and high winds, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.

Severe storms began to pop up over Wisconsin and Michigan on Tuesday afternoon. Areas just to the north of Milwaukee experienced some of the worst of the storms in this zone of the country with hail larger than ping pong balls hammering neighborhoods.

Hail greater than two inches in diameter was also reported in Michigan, northern Illinois and eastern Iowa.

The severe weather charged southeastward late Tuesday with the thunderstorms congealing into what is known as a squall line. Squall lines are notorious for producing damaging wind gusts.

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Such was the case across northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, with a wind gust of 74 mph reported in Pittsburgh as the line of storms blew through. Over 190,000 people were without power in these two states as of 4 a.m. EDT Wednesday, and there were numerous reports of downed trees and damaged structures.

A tornado warning was in effect for the Canton, Ohio, area for a time on Tuesday night, but there have been no confirmed reports of a tornado.

The storms maintained their intensity as they charged into Maryland and northern Virginia during the early morning hours of Wednesday.

AccuWeather meteorologists expect another round of severe weather to fire up later Wednesday.

During Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night, the risk of severe thunderstorms is likely to focus from the lower Ohio Valley to the middle Mississippi and Tennessee valleys.

"Storms that develop late Wednesday in this part of the Central states will quickly become severe, with the greatest potential impact being damaging wind gusts, large hail and flash flooding," AccuWeather Senior Storm Warning Meteorologist Eddie Walker said.

While the risk of tornadoes is low for much of the area, storms centered over the middle Mississippi Valley and lower Ohio Valley may hold a better chance of a few isolated tornadoes.

There may also be a few big storms that erupt in parts of central and eastern Texas during Wednesday afternoon and evening. Storms in this area will have the potential to produce up to moderate-sized hail, which could grow to the size of golf balls.

As colder air spreads over much of the Central and Eastern states, courtesy of a system that may evolve into a bomb cyclone as it tracks from Quebec toward New Brunswick and Maine, the risk of severe thunderstorms will diminish prior to the end of the week.

The potential for severe thunderstorms will return and increase during the latter part of the Easter weekend in the Southern states as warm and humid conditions rebound from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the record-setting storm currently affecting California and the Southwest.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

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