It’s rinse and repeat for the Northeast and mid-Atlantic as millions in the region face a renewed severe weather threat Friday, just hours after storms toppled trees and power lines across 14 states.
A slow-moving cold front trudging to the east is tapping into abundant storm fuel, thanks to record-setting heat and plenty of humidity to trigger rounds of strong thunderstorms.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has highlighted a swath of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic in a Level 2 out of 5 severe weather risk for Friday which includes much of the same area that was in a similar threat zone Thursday, including the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore region and Philadelphia up into much of New England.
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Only this time Friday’s threat is slightly shifted to the east and includes the New York City area.
Thursday’s storms brought 60-75 mph wind gust, triggering nearly 250 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings across Eastern Seaboard and knocked out power to at least 125,000 customers.
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In addition to heavy rains and frequent lightning, damaging wind gusts of 60 mph or more are the primary severe weather threat, with a small risk of quarter-sized hail.
Much like Thursday, thunderstorms will begin to increase in intensity and coverage during the afternoon with storms roaming around the region Friday evening into the early night hours.
And much like Thursday, scattered thunderstorms — some possibly strong — will also develop across the Appalachians down into the Carolinas and even Georgia, but these storms have a low chance of becoming severe.
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Showers and thunderstorms remain stubbornly in the forecast through the weekend across the Northeast.
While rain amounts should be mainly moderate, the ingredients will be in place for localized heavier rain totals especially because storms may be slow-moving and relatively parallel to the cold front, allowing for potential training of storms, according to the FOX Forecast Center.
Rain chances should gradually decrease into next week along the Eastern Seaboard as the fronts push east off the coast.
But with the eventual passage of the front comes relief from the 90s that has baked the region this week. Highs will drop a few degrees Friday, then back into the upper 70s to low-mid 80s over the weekend.