Thunderstorms with strong winds and hail threaten weekend plans from Midwest to Northeast
A new storm will race eastward from the Midwest to the northeastern United States on Sunday. What the storm lacks in aerial coverage will be made up for by the punch that it packs in terms of dumping more rain during the second half of the weekend and, more significantly, setting off severe thunderstorms in some locations, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
The storm will scoot along the northern edge of a zone of building warmth over the central U.S. The setup tends to bring a narrow zone of showers, thunderstorms and severe weather in a northwest-to-southeast fashion or, in this case, a more west-to-east band.
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"At this time, the greatest threat of severe thunderstorms will extend from near the Ohio/Indiana border eastward along the Interstate 70, 80 and 90 corridors through Ohio, western Pennsylvania, southern and western New York and northern West Virginia on Sunday afternoon and evening," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Benz said. "The severe weather risk will extend farther to the east along and south of the Pennsylvania/New York border later in the day and during Sunday evening."
Motorists along these highways and others should be prepared for delays while those outdoors may need to seek shelter as storms approach.
The greatest threats will be from severe thunderstorms packing strong wind gusts of 50-60 mph with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ gust of 70 mph, which is just under hurricane force (74 mph). Some of the strongest storms may also produce hail to the size of golf balls and even an isolated tornado.
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How far east that the severe weather will extend depends on whether or not a wedge of cool air holds on near the Atlantic coast. If the cool wedge erodes quickly, robust thunderstorms may march across parts of New Jersey and southeastern New York, perhaps including the New York City area, during Sunday evening.
At the very least, some downpours will survive to the upper mid-Atlantic coast and into southern New England on Sunday night, which could hamper travel for the trip home from weekend ventures.
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The same setup can bring repeating downpours even where thunderstorms are below severe levels or when no thunder and lightning occur. Because some of the downpours will fall on areas where the ground is still saturated from recent storms, especially the storm from Thursday to Friday, there is a heightened risk of flash flooding along small streams from Indiana to Ohio, Pennsylvania, northern Maryland, northern West Virginia and the southern tier of New York.
Much of the same area affected by showers and locally severe thunderstorms on Sunday can expect a break of dry weather on Monday. However, severe weather will ramp up over the Great Plains on Monday, with eyes for the Midwest on Tuesday.
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