Fall-like air to plunge into northeastern US in wake of midweek storms

After a steamy, stormy start to the week, a wave of cooler air will have some grabbing long-sleeved shirts and jackets into the weekend.

Fans and air conditioners that got a workout during the first half of this week can be put to rest for a few days.

A push of much cooler and less humid air from Canada will spread across the Great Lakes first then much of the Northeast spanning Thursday to Friday.

Ahead of the autumnlike air, gusty and severe thunderstorms developed over central and eastern New York state and Pennsylvania, central and northern New Jersey and northern and western New England on Wednesday afternoon and evening.

The storms brought the full-spectrum threat of severe weather ranging from flash flooding and hail to 70-mph straight-line wind gusts and a even a couple of isolated tornadoes.

A tornado may have touched down east of Hartford, Connecticut, on Wednesday evening when a tornado-warned thunderstorm tracked over the town of Coventry. A video posted on social media shows the possible tornado, but it unclear if it was in contact with the ground.

From Thursday to the first part of Friday, a weak storm system is expected to move eastward along the press of cool air.

The main effect will be to delay the cooldown and lowering humidity a bit over parts of the Ohio Valley to the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay regions as well as southeastern New England.

Showers are likely just north of the storm track, while heavy, gusty and severe thunderstorms can occur in the warm and humid air to the south.

However, from later Friday to Saturday, cooler and less humid conditions are likely to push farther to the south and east. Only portions of southern West Virginia and Virginia may stay unsettled and humid for a time.

The weather forecast to settle in late this week and this weekend will bring a reduction in energy demands and bring an improvement to air quality. People who have difficulty with hot and humid weather and are forced to limit time outdoors will be able to enjoy the weather and get some fresh air this weekend.

However, people who are sensitive to cool weather or sudden drops in temperature may need to swap shorts and short sleeves with long sleeves and a jacket or sweatshirt.

As the cooler and less humid air takes root across the North and over the mountains, highs in the upper 70s to the upper 80s F will be replaced with highs in the upper 60s to the upper 70s this weekend. Nighttime lows are forecast to be in the 40s and 50s.

Meanwhile, over the mid-Atlantic and southern New England coast, highs in the middle 80s to the middle 90s will be replaced with highs in the middle 70s to the middle 80s. Nighttime lows will range from the upper 50s to the upper 60s.

At this level, temperatures are more typical for the middle of September and after the recent warmth and humidity, it may feel more like early October, factoring in a breeze at times.

The official arrival of fall is not until 3:50 a.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 23.

Warmth is likely to bounce back for the last full week of August in the Northeast.

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