Millions of people across the Southeast are under the threat of severe weather, including heavy rain and possibly isolated tornadoes, through Wednesday night.
Heavy rain that could cause flash flooding is forecast to impact the Tennessee Valley through Kentucky. This includes the metro area of Nashville, which was hit hard by flooding over the weekend.
Over 39 million people from Louisiana through the Mid-Atlantic could see severe storms. The largest impacts from these will be damaging straight line winds from the Gulf Coast through the Carolinas; however the potential for isolated tornadoes exists with these storms as well.
After this extreme weather passes, the temperatures will plummet to sub-freezing in the overnight hours with the potential for snow across the Appalachians into New England.
A utility building was carried down a flooded creek in Nashville Sunday.
Communities still recovering
The newest severe weather forecast follows a storm that left at least seven people dead and caused widespread damage around the Nashville area last weekend.
The heavy rain prompted flash floods which swept cars into inescapable currents, and damaged dozens of homes and buildings.
Further south, cities in Alabama and Georgia are still cleaning up from terrifying tornadoes that tore through, killing six people, last week.
A tornado damaged a home in Historic Newnan on March 26, 2021.
The tornadoes damaged dozens of homes and businesses across the two states.
In Alabama, the community of Eagle Point saw roofs ripped off houses, trees plucked from the ground, and power lines downed across roadways.
In Georgia’s Coweta County, the city of Newnan was hit by a powerful EF-4 overnight, with residents being warned by sirens 15 に 20 minutes before the tornado hit, residents told CNN.
The storms killed at least one person in the county, Fire Chief Deron Patrick Wilson said.
“This stuff is unbelievable. I kind of think about this kind of stuff when you look out in the Midwest, オクラホマ. I think you’re going to see that same kind of damage here,” Wilson said.
Warm and cold air masses causing chaos
その間, parts of the country are experiencing sharp fluctuations in conditions within a short period of time.
A cold Canadian air mass to the west has bumped against warm air as it moves east, creating winds in excess of hurricane strength in areas.
Wind gusts of 79 mph were reported in Hettinger County, North Dakota, just to the south of Dickinson, on Monday, a part of the same front and winds that caused the fires in South Dakota.
A record high of 81 degree Fahrenheit was recorded in Aberdeen, サウス・ダコタ, on Monday — 33 degrees above normal. After winds pushed the cold mass in, temps struggled to reach 39 degrees.
As the cold front passes — temperatures will also drop dramatically, putting more than 21 million under freeze watches or warnings from the Central Mississippi Valley through the Ohio Valley through the mornings of Thursday and Friday, where temperatures will be in the upper 20’s.
Winter weather will be seen again across the Appalachians of West Virginia, the Eastern Great Lakes into portions of New England.
