Forecasters from AccuWeather say that more than 10 million people could be at risk for a four-day stretch of severe weather that is expected to rumble through the South and Southeast United States.
AccuWeather expert meteorologists say holiday travel and outdoor festivities could also be impacted by a storm that is forecast to bring freezing rain and ice to parts of the Northeast into the weekend, as well as a relentless train of storms that is pounding the Northwest.
Severe thunderstorms will continue sliding eastward on Sunday, extending from central Florida along the East Coast to eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. Flooding downpours, hail, localized damaging wind gusts of 50-60 mph and isolated tornadoes are possible Sunday. Most of the storms will begin to shift offshore by later Sunday night.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for a weak cold front attempting to push through the Southwest Florida area on Sunday but ends up stalling over the area from Tampa and points south. This will bring the best chance of rain over the area with mainly 40 to 50 percent possibility of precipitation for Sunday.
NWS forecasters said the front will linger across the area for early part of next week keeping temperatures in the upper 70`s to low 80`s each day with higher humidity. An upper level short wave will help to finally push the front through late on Tuesday which will finally help to bring our temperatures down to normal for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
What looms after the weekend?
"We're going to be tracking multiple storms that will move across the eastern part of the United States during the final days of December and early part of January," AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Expert Paul Pastelok said.
Depending on the exact timing of all the moving parts and pieces in the atmosphere, at least one of these storms could impact New York City on Tuesday night.
"There can be a storm that arrives New Year's Eve or New Year's Day that has the potential to produce a mix of rain and snow for the Northeast, with all rain farther south," Pastelok said. "Rain could arrive before the ball drops in Times Square, but the timing of that remains in flux and something we will continue to monitor."
Most areas outside of the northern Plains and Upper Midwest will be free from bone-chilling cold on New Year's Eve.
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.