WASHINGTON – Severe thunderstorms are again threatening millions of people in the eastern half of the U.S. this week as back-to-back storm systems are expected to bring the chance of damaging wind gusts, large hail and possible tornadoes from the Ohio Valley to the mid-Atlantic states starting on Monday.
The severe weather threat on Monday stretches from the Chicago area and Great Lakes Region through the Tennessee Valley and into the mid-Atlantic and portions of the Northeast.
However, the SPC has placed portions of the Tennessee Valley and mid-Atlantic at a level 2 out of 5 on its thunderstorm risk scale.
This includes cities such as Nashville, Charleston in West Virginia, Roanoke and Norfolk in Virginia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.
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The FOX Forecast Center says severe thunderstorms are likely Monday afternoon and evening across the Ohio Valley and into the mid-Atlantic states as an area of low pressure in eastern Iowa and northern Illinois brings widespread rain across the Mississippi River Valley.
The system will continue to march east through the Ohio Valley as a cold front extends to the south, with severe thunderstorms firing up along and ahead of the cold front throughout the day.
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Damaging wind gusts will be the primary threat from severe thunderstorms that develop, but some of the storms could be stronger and pose a tornado threat.
The tornado threat also stretches from northern Illinois through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys and into the mid-Atlantic. More than 75 million Americans in major cities across the region, including Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City, are at risk of seeing possible tornadoes during severe thunderstorms on Monday.
More severe thunderstorms are possible along the East Coast on Tuesday, with millions at risk from New England to the Southeast.
However, the SPC has placed areas of southern Delaware, eastern Maryland, southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina at a level 2 out of 5 on its thunderstorm risk scale.