Another gigantic storm: Severe weather followed by polar temps

The second gigantic winter storm of the week continues its course to the east of the country, bringing large and intense impacts of all kinds for Friday and Saturday.

After an early morning with some severe storms, mostly over Arkansas on Friday, that produced more than a dozen damaging winds reports and an equal number of hail reports, the low-pressure system will continue to increase the risk of storms this morning over the Southeast. A severe storm watch is in place for the northern half of Mississippi and this may expand to the northern half of Alabama once this system continues to move east.

The arrival time of the storms over the Southeast is expected to be in the afternoon, which has limited the amount of warmth that this region will achieve, and this has decreased the risk of severity for Georgia, the Carolinas, and northern Florida, now at a level 2 out of 5 on the scale. Some severe storms may develop tornadoes, but the greatest risk will be from strong winds over 75 mph. Please be vigilant and limit your time outdoors if you are located in the area highlighted in yellow.

The cold front associated with this system loses strength as it moves over Florida, so the risk to Central Florida decreases even further, to a level 1 of 5. Central Florida could see isolated strong to severe storms by Friday night, with the biggest threat still being the winds.

For the northeast of the country, Tuesday’s weather pattern repeats. Some snowfall will be affecting portions of the interior of the Northeast. Rain will be affecting much of the central Atlantic and the tri-state area during Friday afternoon and evening.

With this storm, I am also concerned about the strong storms that will be passing through the tri-state area during the early morning hours and Saturday morning. Some of these storms will bring heavy rains and could also bring severe weather such as tornadoes, destructive winds, and hail, especially over parts of New England. Residents of southern New England, including Boston, should be very attentive to what is happening with the storms. See the WeatherRadar focused on this region.

The strong winds will give more to talk about to end this week as well. Gusts that may exceed 75 mph will be likely across the Great Lakes region. Sustained wind will also be blowing strongly along the east coast of the United States. Also, the Tennessee Valley and Mississippi, all the way to Florida will still have strong winds on Saturday but with the direction changing the component will be mostly from the north, which will pull an extremely cold air mass across the region.

A polar air mass moves over the Rockies and Plains. The cold will be intense and very dangerous. In the Plains the wind is added, making the situation even worse. Temperatures up to 40 degrees below normal for Sunday morning for portions of the Northern Plains and 15 degrees below normal for North Texas. In Dallas, residents will wake to temperatures around 16 degrees on Sunday.

We will continue to provide you with information about the evolution of this storm here in our app and through social networks.

**This same information can be seen in Spanish, written by our bilingual meteorologists if you set our app to Spanish inside the settings option on the top right. Tell your family and friends who only speak Spanish so that they can also be informed and stay safe, please.**