Tri-State tornado warning covers area as severe weather enters Wlwt Weather

Parts of the Tri-State were under a tornado warning Wednesday night as severe weather entered the area, and wlwt weather said the National Weather Service had also issued a tornado watch for the entire Tri-State area until 5 a.m. Thursday.

The strongest storms were expected overnight, with the highest severe weather threat from midnight to about 5 a.m. Thursday. Damaging winds could gust up to 70 mph, and large hail, heavy rain, flash flooding and a few tornadoes were possible.

Tri-State overnight timing

Strong winds were expected to develop overnight, with gusts over 35 mph possible before the stronger line of storms moved in between midnight and 6 a.m. Showers and thunderstorms were expected to continue from midnight to about 5 a.m. Thursday, then clear between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.

The Tri-State was split between an enhanced risk level 3 out of 5 in parts of the area and a slight risk level 2 out of 5 across most of the region. That meant the overnight window carried the main threat, not the full day.

Thursday morning impacts

Flooding, downed trees and scattered power outages could create issues Thursday morning after the storms moved through. Lingering showers could stick around until the afternoon before skies turned partly cloudy with breezy winds, and temperatures were expected to be in the low 80s again.

By Friday morning, temperatures were expected to fall into the upper 50s and rebound into the upper 70s by Friday afternoon under mostly sunny skies. For people driving before sunrise, the practical move was to treat the midnight-to-7 a.m. stretch as the highest-risk period and plan for slower travel if warnings were issued again.