Over 80 million people are under severe storm threat from northern Mississippi to Massachusetts Monday ahead of the Fourth of July – threatening more damaging wind gusts, power outages, large hail and possible tornadoes.
A slight risk for severe storms, level 2 of 5, stretches from northern South Carolina to southern New Jersey, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charlotte, Washington, D.C. and Virginia Beach. Cities including Jackson, Birmingham, Atlanta, Charleston, Roanoke, Newark and New York are all under a marginal risk for severe storms.
Meanwhile, a separate storm system is bringing another slight risk of severe weather across parts of The Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Minnesota, including Rapid City and Pierre.
Severe weather has already battered parts of the US over the weekend, hitting Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois and Iowa.
There were at least eight reports of hail in Missouri on Saturday, including some reports house windows were broken by the frozen pellets, according to the National Weather Service. There were also several reports of severe wind, including in St. Louis, where large trees were uprooted, the NWS said.
The weather has created challenges for Americans planning to fly for the holiday. According to the tracking website FlightAware, at least 7,697 flights into, out of, or within the United States had been delayed as of 3 a.m. Monday. At least 464 US flights have been canceled Monday.
There were also over 214,000 homes and businesses across the East without power early Monday morning, including over 55,000 in Missouri, according to Poweroutage.us.
A flash flood warning was put into place for nearly five million people in Illinois, including residents of Chicago, due to thunderstorms and heavy rain. The rain caused delays and cancellations for some sporting events scheduled for Sunday in the Windy City: The Chicago Cubs had to push their game against the Cleveland Guardians back by several hours, and NASCAR had to alter its racing slate and truncate one of its scheduled races.
Extreme heat continues
As other parts of the country see stormy weather, over 30 million people are under heat alerts across the West Coast and parts of the Mid-Atlantic and the Carolinas Monday.
Heat alerts continue for the Mid-Atlantic and will mainly include parts of the Carolinas and Virginia through the day on Monday. Raleigh could see heat indices up to 108, Charlotte could see heat indices up to 105 and Virginia Beach could see heat indices up to 109.
Parts of the Southwest and West will also be under heat alerts for the next few days, with excessive heat warnings spreading from southwest Arizona through central California and also into southern Nevada – where high temperatures could range from 105 to 115. Death Valley, California, could reach 125 degrees, and Phoenix, Arizona, could see high temperatures up to 115.