Spring weather about to hatch as severe weather targets Northeast

Severe weather will threaten over 30 million on Saturday from Florida to New York, with everything from hail and isolated tornadoes to torrential downpours and damaging wind gusts possible.

After driving tornadoes through parts of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys, as well as the South on Friday, a potent storm is forecast to trigger severe weather in the eastern United States as well.

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"Saturday will likely be an active day weather-wise, as we will be monitoring the threat of thunderstorms into the evening hours," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham.

There will be two areas of potentially severe weather across the East, with coastal cities like Savannah, Georgia, Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, among those in the southern portion of severe. This Southeast section is forecast to have only locally severe storms, though any thunderstorm that blows through could produce a brief downpour and cause travel disruptions, and the other is the risk of an isolated tornado or two from Florida to southern Maryland and Delaware.

The heftier severe risk will be located farther north, where AccuWeather forecasters are keeping a sharp eye on some of the most populated cities in the U.S., including New York City and Philadelphia.

"With sufficiently mild and humid air in place combined with severe-worthy dynamics high in the atmosphere, AccuWeather meteorologists do expect thunderstorms to turn severe," added Buckingham.

Hail, isolated tornadoes, damaging wind gusts and torrential downpours producing reduced visibility are anticipated with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 75 mph. Those traveling along major interstates like 76, 80, 81, 90 and 95 should prepare for delays from sudden bursts of severe weather. Motorists are recommended not to travel through flooded roadways and slow down and pull over if severe weather hits.

"Storms should continue to advance eastward into the early evening hours, bringing along a threat for gusty winds, hail and even an isolated tornado into places like Binghamton, New York, Scranton and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and perhaps farther south and east into Philadelphia and New Jersey," Buckingham said.

This severe weather will arrive accompanied by a larger storm that has been producing snow in the Plains and Great Lakes, as well as severe weather across the Ohio Valley and South.

"The threat will stem from an area of low pressure and its associated cold front that will march eastward through the Ohio Valley and Northeast into the evening hours," explained Buckingham.

After the severe storms move out Saturday night, Sunday is looking to be generally cooler and breezy. After temperatures rose into the 70s in most places across the Northeast on Friday, forecast highs in the 40s and 50s might bring a shiver despite being around average.

While there can be some showers mixing with snow in the interior Northeast, elsewhere across the Atlantic Coast is expected to be much drier as eyes turn to the next huge storm bringing potentially devastating severe weather to the South early in the traditional workweek.

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