Easter Sunday Forecast: Thunderstorms to Soak the Southeast; Rain in the Midwest, Northwest

Lightning Fact or Myth?

The Easter Sunday holiday may be filled with soaking thunderstorms or just a nuisance rain in parts of the Midwest, South and West. In other areas, plenty of sunshine may induce a case of spring fever.

Here's the forecast across the country, starting with the trouble spots.

Southern Soaking

• Thunderstorms will be numerous Sunday in the South from parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Carolinas.
• Flash flooding may be a threat along the Gulf Coast.
• Some of these storms may become severe, but overall, the threat appears fairly limited in the South.
• (CITIES: Shreveport | Memphis | New Orleans | Jacksonville)

Midwest Rain, Storms

• Weak low pressure will track across the Midwest and Ohio Valley.
• Wet snow moves across Kansas Easter morning. Light accumulations are possible.
• Precipitation should otherwise be in the form of rain from Missouri and Illinois into the Ohio Valley and southern Great Lakes.
• A few severe storms are possible from the Mid-South into the Ohio Valley, but it won't be an outbreak by any means.
• (CITIES: Kansas City | St. Louis | Chicago)

(MORE: Severe Weather Forecast Details)

Northwest Soggy

• Valley rain and mountain snow showers are expected in the Northwest, stretching east to the Bitterroots of western Montana.
• This won't be a heavy rain or snow event, but snow levels will be rather low in the Cascades.
• (CITIES: Seattle | Portland)

Fabulous Holiday

• The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states should remain mainly dry, though some showers may work their way into the Delmarva peninsula and Delaware Valley late in the day.
• Fairly seasonable temperatures are expected near the Northeast seaboard, but warmer-than-average highs in the interior Northeast, with 60s into Upstate New York and 70s into western Pennsylvania.
• Plenty of sunshine can be expected in the Southwest and Southern California, though some stronger afternoon winds are possible ahead of a Pacific cold front in the Great Basin and Desert Southwest.
• (CITIES: New York | Washington D.C. | Phoenix | L.A.)

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