On Thursday, inclement weather will home in on the Deep South and Eastern U.S. following a strengthening low pressure system, but do not discount more isolated disturbances in the eastern Rockies.
The nation's focus will be on strong and scattered thunderstorms, stretching from the far Lower Midwest to the Gulf and Atlantic states by nightfall. Over the Texas-Mexico border and southern Appalachia, vigorous late-afternoon storms will bring severe threats ranging from wind, hail, and even a tornado or two along the storm system's dragging cold front, with lesser threats expected for the rest of the South. Even flood risks will reach this same region as well as into the Mid-Atlantic, so keep weather-aware as conditions evolve.
Luckily, drier air will emerge in the Great Lakes, the Upper Midwest, and the Great Plains behind the low pressure system, as well as throughout the western Rockies. However, intruding heat and remnant moisture from previous showers will create marginally unstable air. As a result, more isolated thunderstorms will ignite amongst the Rockies' Front Range, with showers and even an isolated wintry mix or two falling over the highest elevation ridges and mountaintops.
When it comes to Thursday's highs, cold emerges only in the Rocky Front Range, the Cascades, and the Interior Northeast, where 30s and 40s still bring shivers to folks outdoors. More moderate 50s and 60s break over corridors of the far Northwest, the Front Range's mid-elevations, the central High Plains, the Great Lakes, New England, and areas under showers in the far Lower Midwest.
As for spring heat, 70s and 80s arrive in spades across the U.S., warming the U.S. Southern Tier, the Intermountain West, most of the Great Plains, and a majority of the Lower Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Lastly, low to mid-90s take charge over Georgia, Florida, far South Texas, and the Desert Southwest.
