NOAA says more than 50 million people face renewed severe weather Thursday across parts of the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic, a day when tornado watch vs warning distinctions matter for the next round of storms. Severe storms were forecast to develop Thursday afternoon, with damaging winds once again the biggest threat.
More than 165,000 customers were without power early Thursday after storms produced damaging wind gusts from Michigan through the eastern Great Lakes into Ohio, Pennsylvania and western New York and south across the Mid-Atlantic into North Carolina. The Level 3 out of 5 severe storm risk was tied mainly to damaging winds up to 75 mph.
Thursday risks in Pittsburgh
The Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metro areas were under a Level 2 out of 5 risk Thursday. A Level 3 out of 5 severe storm risk covered northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania, including Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
The stormy pattern began Tuesday, when numerous Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued across Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. By early Wednesday morning, more than 65,000 customers were without power across Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, and flash flooding occurred across eastern Pennsylvania.
New York City and Philadelphia
Showers and isolated thunderstorms were already ongoing early Thursday across New York City and Philadelphia, even as the broader severe threat was forecast to rebuild later in the day. That split between active rain and the stronger afternoon storm window is the practical difference readers need to watch: a watch means conditions favor storms, while a warning means a storm capable of damaging wind or tornado threats is already happening or imminent.
Wind gusts topped 55 mph during the earlier storms, and a confirmed tornado was reported near Somerset, New York, as a waterspout moved onshore northeast of Buffalo. Numerous reports of tree damage, hail and strong winds came in across the region, with the latest threat line still centered on Thursday afternoon.
