Dangerous Heat Ahead For Midwest, Northeast

A cold front slicing through humid air in the Midwest, Great Lakes and East Coast will produce severe thunderstorms that could unleash damaging straight-line winds, hail and a few tornadoes through Thursday.

Here is a look at the latest radar and current active alerts from the National Weather Service showing where storms are active right now:

Wednesday: Severe storms are possible Wednesday from the Great Lakes southwestward across the Ohio and mid-Mississippi valleys to northern Texas. The main concerns are damaging wind gusts and large hail, but isolated tornadoes are also possible, especially in the areas shaded red below from southern Michigan to southeast Missouri.

Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis and St. Louis are some of the cities that might see strong to severe storms.

(192-hours: Further beef up your forecast with our detailed, hour-by-hour breakdown for the next 8 days – only available on our Premium Pro experience.)

Thursday: The cold front is going to encounter a warm, moist air mass over East Coast that can fuel a moderate level of instability. As a result, severe storms are most possible from parts of the mid-Atlantic northward to the New York tri-state area and parts of New England. The Storm Prediction Center is currently warning that damaging wind gusts will be the primary threat, but an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out.

Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., all have a chance to see severe storms.

Sara Tonks is a content meteorologist with weather.com and has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Georgia Tech in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences along with a master’s degree from Unity Environmental University in Marine Science.