Updated 5:10 p.m. Eastern Saturday
*A new tornado watch has been issued through this evening for the Baltimore and Philadelphia areas. This is shown in yellow below.
#BREAKING: A Tornado Watch has been issued for parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and PA until 1am EDT. Stay with @WeatherNation for LIVE coverage through this evening. #Tornado pic.twitter.com/y6fng4VGGa
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) May 12, 2018
Severe weather is beginning to pop up and will continue to do so through this evening across the Ohio Valley, central Appalachians, and mid-Atlantic coastline. Earlier this afternoon the Storm Prediction Center issued a severe thunderstorm watch in anticipation of storms for the rest of today.
The primary hazards with today’s storms will be damaging winds up to 70 miles per hour, perhaps even an isolated stronger gust. A line of strong to severe thunderstorms is expected to develop and push eastward through midnight. Here’s the timing:
Showers and thunderstorms will move to the east around 35-40 miles per hour, but could move as quickly as 55 mph! Thus, these storms may sneak up on some of us. If you hear of a warning, that means take action immediately. For most people and scenarios, it means getting into the most interior section of a sturdy structure.
Approximately 7.7 million people were under the initial severe thunderstorm watch.
A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for parts of MD, OH, PA, VA, WV until 11 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/N7d0p1uFw8
— NWS Eastern Region (@NWSEastern) May 12, 2018
This is part of a large area that has a chance at severe weather today.
Once again, damaging wind gusts will be today’s biggest concern!
The wind potential means there is “X” percent chance (5, 15, and 30 above) of severe wind gusts within 25 miles of any point. It’s quite a large area today! Keep an eye to the sky, listen out for thunder and weather alerts, and be weather ready!
For WeatherNation, Meteorologist Steve Glazier