A dangerous storm system is expected to hit the Midwest on Friday and then shift toward the East Coast this weekend, bringing possibly severe thunderstorms, damaging winds and even tornadoes across the South.
Heavy rain and flooding are possible from the Plains to the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy snow and ice will lead to dangerous travel from the Plains to New England.
The system is slow moving, forecasters said, which could lead to heavy rains saturating grounds.
The system is also bringing warmer-than-average temperatures along with it.
By Friday, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan expects the first storms to reach northwest Georgia. Winds in excess of 60 mph will be “a key part of the forecast,” he said.
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“A strong wind coming in from the Gulf of Mexico is going to give us the risk for some strong wind gusts and, because of the way that wind is twisting and turning in the atmosphere, the possibility of a brief spinup tornado,” he said.
The tornado risk is low, but there is a high risk of flooding with all the heavy rain as well as a moderate risk of damaging wind gusts.
Next week is also looking pretty rainy. North Georgia will have to “get ready for a pretty soggy stretch of weather over the next week or so,” Monahan said.
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Numerous high-temperature records are expected to be broken from the Ohio and Tennessee valleys into the Northeast. In contrast, the nation’s western half will be much colder than usual as a cold front and secondary cold front reinforces a frigid air mass.
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