Severe weather outbreak impacts Midwest, plus big storms to hammer East
Intense thunderstorms impacted tens of millions in the Midwest into Thursday night. Meanwhile, storms in the East may hit travel and outdoor activities hard once again on Friday.
Extreme meteorologist Dr. Reed Timmer captured these videos of a long-lived tornado in Illinois as a parade of storm chasers followed it down the highway.
Following nearly 700 severe weather incidents with close to two dozen tornadoes so far during the ongoing severe weather outbreak in the central United States, the third and final day brought hundreds more reports across the region as well as in the East. Drenching to severe thunderstorms will also rumble across the Eastern states through the end of the week.
Severe weather hammered Midwest Thursday
As AccuWeather meteorologists predicted, severe thunderstorms raced across the central U.S. from West Texas to the Great Lakes. Numerous reports of wind damage, including trees being uprooted and damage to homes, large hail and tornadoes occurred across Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.
In Illinois, numerous large tornadoes led to widespread damage across Illinois and northwestern Indiana, including near Streator and Dwight, Illinois, and Hebron and Hobart, Indiana.
As of early Friday morning, almost 400,000 customers were without power in Illinois and Indiana.
Severe storms to rebound in the East
Strong thunderstorms also tracked across portions of the East Thursday, bringing widespread reports of wind damage from northern Virginia and West Virginia through New York, and even as far east as Connecticut.
Friday will bring another round disruptive thunderstorms, mainly during the afternoon and evening. Many of the thunderstorms will be widely separated from parts of North Carolina to much of New York state and a portion of New England.
There will be a pocket where a greater concentration of severe weather is likely, mainly from northern Virginia to southeastern New York and southwestern New England.
Any thunderstorms in these areas into Friday evening will bring the risk of brief torrential downpours and sporadic lightning. However, in stronger storms, downpours may linger, increasing the risk of flash flooding. Some of these same storms will produce powerful downburst wind gusts that can knock down trees and send loose objects airborne — both of which can be dangerous for pedestrians. In the more intense storms, frequent lightning strikes are possible.
A handful of the strongest storms may produce marble-sized hail.
Locally severe storms expected this weekend in Midwest, Southern and Eastern states
The weekend will bring a renewed risk of some severe weather to the Central states.
A few locally severe storms may extend from Oklahoma and Kansas through Illinois and southern Wisconsin on Saturday. AccuWeather meteorologists have highlighted eastern Kansas through much of Missouri and western Illinois with a moderate risk of severe weather. The storms could affect parts of the Oklahoma City, Chicago and Kansas City, Missouri, metro areas.
The main threats from these storms will be brief strong wind gusts, hail and torrential downpours, although isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out within this pocket of severe weather.
On Sunday, thunderstorms may become strong and capable of producing damaging winds and flooding downpours across the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, as well as a portion of the southern Plains and Mississippi Valley.
Some of the major cities that could experience a disruptive potent thunderstorm on Sunday include Dallas, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C.
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