Much of the Central U.S. and Eastern Seaboard will be dodging fierce springtime thunderstorms for the first weekend in May. Though the storms, heat and growing humidity will be the main weather staples, a few of winter`s snowflakes will fly in the spring air across the northern Rockies.
Though hit-or-miss thunderstorms will percolate from the Dakotas all the way to the Carolina and Mid-Atlantic beaches, the biggest danger zone for severe weather will take shape from South Dakota and Nebraska into much of Iowa, as well as a sliver of central Texas. Cities like Omaha, Lincoln, and Valentine, Neb., Sioux Falls, S.D., Des Moines, Iowa, and Abilene, Texas will all need to be on high alert for storms packing a punch with large hail, damaging wind gusts and even a few tornadoes. Fortunately, the storms could be drought-busting for the Mid-Atlantic and Upper Midwest.
All the grey and gloom will hold the mercury in the 40s and 50s from Minnesota to Maine, though a few lower 60s will sneak into the picture with a few splashes of sunshine. Warm 70s, 80s and even a few 90s will burst onto the scene from Texas to South Dakota, and eastward to the Atlantic Coast beaches.
The only other weather hiccup in a stellar start to the weekend across the West will be the Cascades and northern Rockies. Here, winter`s snowflakes don`t want to leave just yet for the higher peaks, with a few nuisance showers keeping temperatures on the chillier side across the lowlands.
A stark temperature range will be found west of the Rocky Front Range, with 40s and 50s along the U.S. Northern-Tier, and 80s to lower 90s in the Arizona and southern California deserts today.
Sunday:
An encore performance of flooding downpours and severe thunderstorms will close out the weekend on a stormy note from the northern High Plains to the Florida Atlantic beaches. Just like the final weekend in April, dangerous storms will target eastern Kansas and Oklahoma to western Illinois. Large hail, high winds and a few tornadoes could impact cities such as Springfield, Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo., as well as Tulsa, Okla. Additional severe storms will be possible in the Southeast from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Atlanta and Tallahassee, Fla.
Outside mountain snow and valley rain sliding out of the northern Rockies and Montana Plains Sunday, the rest of the Western U.S. will enjoy a sunshine-filled conclusion to the weekend.
The Rocky Front Range, Great Lakes and northern New England will see the coolest temperatures for Sunday, with 40s, 50s and lower 60s. In sharp contrast, May sunshine will boost the mercury into the 60s, 70s and 80s from the Golden State all the way to the Mid-Atlantic and Carolinas. Even a few 90s and triple digits will make an appearance across Texas` Rio Grande Valley and southern Arizona.
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