AccuWeather reports rain and thunderstorms, some capable of producing severe weather with the potential for a few tornadoes, will affect the South into Christmas Eve.
Despite this week being the first week of winter, it may seem like spring in the South for a day or two with a surge of warm and humid air, accompanied by thunderstorms.
Rain and storms will be spawned by a Christmas Eve storm as it gains strength and begins to lift to the north.
Approximately 20 million people in the south will be in the severe weather risk zone as it shifts eastward into Christmas Eve.
According to AccuWeather.com meteorologist Ben Noll, "While the most likely impact will be strong and damaging winds, a few tornadoes cannot be ruled out."
Holiday travelers driving along portions of Interstate 10 from New Orleans and Lake Charles, La., through Mobile, Al., and Tallahassee, Fl., can experience poor visibility and excess water on the roads from gusty winds and heavy rain on Tuesday.
The risk of locally severe thunderstorms on Tuesday will extend as far inland as the I-20 corridor from Jackson, Ms., to Birmingham.
During
Tuesday night into
Wednesday morning, the worst of the rain and thunderstorms will swing across southeastern Georgia and northeastern Florida.
However, drenching rain and thunderstorms will swing through the I-85 swath from Atlanta and Charlotte, and farther east in Augusta, Columbia, and Raleigh. Flight and highway travel delays may increase substantially during this time.
During Wednesday, the risk of torrential downpours and locally severe thunderstorms will shift to the I-95 swath from central and northeastern Florida to the coastal part of the Carolinas and southeastern Virginia. Cities from Daytona Beach to Charleston, Wilmington, N.C, and Virginia Beach, Va., could be hit by a gusty, drenching thunderstorm.
A second pocket of thunderstorms with locally damaging wind gusts may develop on Wednesday from north-central Kentucky to western New York state and southwestern Ontario.
As warm air continues to surge northward with the storm, some people may also be surprised by thunderstorms on Wednesday night in the coastal mid-Atlantic and southern New England and northern New England on Christmas Day morning.