WEATHER BLOG: Storms Nearby

As some very humid air continues to flow into the Eastern region early Thursday we're going to be watching a cool front closely during the next 24-36 hours. This front is currently located in the Great Lakes, and it probably will not reach southeastern New York state and southern New England until Friday evening. But nonetheless, this is going to be one of the key components in our forecast over the next few days. There will be intervals of clouds and sun Thursday, with most temperatures reaching the lower 90s in the afternoon. Showers and a couple of thunderstorms will be developing across the northern and central Appalachians Thursday afternoon, and these should tend to drift a bit to the south and east in the afternoon and the evening. So, after a couple of "uneventful" days that have lacked any rainfall, we
should see some activity appearing on the regional radar.

But, as we've been saying now for the past couple of days, it appears that the showers and thunderstorms which will be flaring up later Thursday will "only be the beginning" of what should be a pretty active weather. Friday, Friday night and Saturday, the regional radar mosaic should have numerous showers and heavier thunderstorms on it in the bigger cities located near the I-95 corridor. As a low pressure system forms along the front out in the Ohio Valley Thursday, it will be poised to move into western portions of New York and Pennsylvania Friday afternoon. And the very warm and moist air located out ahead of it will be getting tapped by both this low pressure system and a slow-moving cool front that
will be trailing behind it. And, if there's enough sunshine Friday, and temperatures do manage to reach the upper 80s and lower 90s like we're expecting, there could be a few strong or severe thunderstorms which will be erupting in mid-Atlantic states. Much like we were saying Wednesday, the greatest threat for wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour and torrential downpours Friday afternoon will be across much of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and western parts of New Jersey.