Storms to target some recently damaged areas, threaten new turf
Areas of the Midwest, Northeast and South are at risk for multiple days of severe weather into the weekend.
“April showers bring May flowers” may be the old saying, but this year, May is bringing severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and hail across a huge swath of the U.S.
As a busy weather pattern continues for portions of the Northeast, Midwest and south-central United States, gusty and drenching storms will repeat in some areas where repairs to previous damage and utility lines are taking place and in locations where prior storms may have weakened trees and lines, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
At peak, over 700,000 utility customers were without power due to scores of downed trees, damaged lines and snapped utility poles on Tuesday evening.
AccuWeather meteorologists have concerns that even if the upcoming storms are less intense than those of Tuesday, significant damage can still occur, especially in areas where storms passed through recently. Crews working on repairs will need to pause operations until the new storms depart.
Some communities have been without power since the storms rolled through on Tuesday. To add to the difficulties, at least one major cell phone carrier had disrupted service in some areas, leaving some customers without outside communication during the emergency.
A batch of severe thunderstorms developed over the southern Plains and advanced southeastward as a large complex with strong wind gusts, heavy rain and large hail from Thursday night to Friday morning. The edge of this feature will set off severe thunderstorms and flooding downours farther south and east into Friday night.
The likelihood of some severe thunderstorms on Friday will extend from Texas to southwestern Pennsylvania, which will mark at least the second day in a row for potentially violent weather conditions.
Some of the most robust storms into Friday night will occur from central and southern Texas to central Kentucky. Storms in this zone could bring hailstones of considerable size.
The weather patterns driving severe storms will shift slightly by the weekend. On Saturday, the greatest threat of severe weather will shift toward the Atlantic Seaboard from New Hampshire to Florida, as well as the northeastern Gulf coast.
The storms on Saturday will extend westward into portions of western and central Pennsylvania, which were hammered by a fast-moving, powerful wind event, known as a derecho. Landspouts or gustnados along the straight-line long-distance wind event may have also contributed to the extensive damage.
This may mark the first time in several days that severe weather reaches the Atlantic coast in major cities such as New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Charlotte and Charleston, South Carolina. Airline delays are possible as storms approach.
Depending on the behavior of a new storm in the East, a second day of severe weather may affect parts of the mid-Atlantic and the Southeast on Sunday.
The greatest risk of severe thunderstorms to close out the weekend will extend from coastal areas of Georgia to eastern Virginia.
Even though the setup over the next several days is not conducive for many tornadoes, any severe thunderstorm can produce a brief tornado due to the intense nature of the situation.
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