Washington, US Mid-Atlantic Face Growing Risk of Storms Sunday

Another round of storms will sweep into the eastern US from Lake Erie to Florida, including Cleveland and Tampa, on Sunday after a deadly track of tornadoes and severe weather knocked out power to thousands across the Mississippi Valley and the South this weekend.

There is a slight risk of severe thunderstorms, which can spawn hail storms and tornadoes, for more than 37 million people from western New York to central Florida, the US Storm Prediction Center said. An additional 21.5 million in areas including Washington and Baltimore face a marginal risk. Tornado watches are already in place from North Carolina to Florida and that will likely spread later Sunday. 

The greatest threat “will be this afternoon or evening for the Mid Atlantic states,” said David Roth, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. Skies may actually clear in many areas in the east before the threat increases, so no one should become complacent, he added.

The danger comes after at least 33 people had died across six states since the massive storm sytem moved across the US beginning last week, AccuWeather Inc. said in a statement. Twelve died in Missouri, where Governor Mike Kehoe has declared a state of emergency.

“The damage is overwhelming, but so is the strength of our communities,” Kehoe said in a post on X late Saturday.

The outbreak was part of a larger series of storms forecasters have been watching since last week that also raise wildfire risks across the Great Plains, and it comes just weeks after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the National Weather Service, fired hundreds of newly hired workers under the Trump administration’s cut back of the federal workforce. The powerful storms are typical of this time of year as the northern hemisphere transitions into spring.

Since Friday, at least 66 tornado reports have been turned into the Storm Prediction Center. Early Sunday, more than 304,000 customers were without power across 8 states in the South and Midwest, PowerOutage.us said.

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