AccuWeather reports a cold front bringing severe weather to the Midwest and the Mississippi Valley Thursday will reach the East on Friday producing rain, locally gusty thunderstorms and disruptions.
As the rain and storms push eastward from the Appalachians to the coast, travel delays will also become more extensive especially in the swath from New York City to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Charlotte and Atlanta during the afternoon and evening hours Friday.
The storms could also disrupt evening ballgames.
While the intensity of the thunderstorms will depend to some extent on the timing (morning versus evening) and on how warm locations become during the day, most locations from Florida to Maine will get a period of drenching rain.
Areas most likely to experience localized strong to severe thunderstorms reach from part of the eastern Great Lakes, the west slopes of the central Appalachians, then along the Atlantic Seaboard, generally near and south of the Mason-Dixon line.
A prevailing cool wedge of air and/or clouds may limit the intensity of the storms over New England and part of the northern mid-Atlantic.
Some locations can be hit by more than just a downpour and some lightning and thunder. A few places can have a severe thunderstorm that brings strong winds, torrential downpours and hail. As a result, there is the potential for downed trees, power outages and flash flooding in the vicinity of the storms.
The storms will be the remnants of a squall line affecting the Central states into Thursday night.
These storms and leftover downpours will swing into the Appalachians and eastern Great Lakes during the daylight hours Friday. It will not be until the evening before they reach most places along the middle and southern Atlantic coast and generally not until the overnight and early Saturday morning hours before they reach the east coast of New England.
Much cooler and drier air will sweep in over much of the Eastern states this weekend. However, showers and thunderstorms may linger over central and South Florida. Spotty showers are likely over the central and northern Appalachians and eastern Great Lakes. Wet snowflakes could mix in over the highest elevations of northern Pennsylvania and upstate New York Saturday.