Thousands Left Without Power as Severe Storm Ravages Midwest

As heavy storms move through the Midwest, hundreds of people are without electricity. Volatile storms formed as colder air collided with hot, humid air, causing severe downpours and widespread outages throughout the Midwest.

(Photo : Photo: cottonbro / Pexels)

Extreme Weather

Until Monday night, severe thunderstorms raged over parts of the Midwest and Plains when much colder air collided with the hot, muggy air that had been there for the previous several days. On Monday, several power disruptions were recorded from Pennsylvania to Michigan.

Left Without Power

Hundreds and thousands of homes and businesses were without service as of 6:30 p.m., with over 173,000 outages being recorded in only Michigan based on data from PowerOutage.us. The utility that serves the state, Consumers Energy, claimed that the number of customers without electricity had "increased significantly."

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Powerful Winds

(Photo : Raychel Sanner/Unsplash)

The region where AccuWeather experts indicated a moderate probability of severe weather is home to almost 13 million people. According to meteorologists at AccuWeather, these storms are expected to affect parts of the Northeast on Tuesday.

AccuWeather StormMax wind gusts of 85 mph, large hail, and maybe a few tornadoes were predicted to be released by the storms at this complex and other nearby places.

As the increasing storms swept across the western suburbs of Chicago during the early afternoon hours, gusts between 40 mph and 50 mph were already being reported. Other storms might probably explode across central and northern Illinois Monday evening.

The storm complex may be referred to be a derecho if it consistently or sometimes sends 400 miles of destructive winds.

The extreme weather zone will cause considerable travel delays for drivers and airline passengers. High gusts might blow down trees onto highways, causing some low-lying roads to become impassable by flooding.

Amidst the Extreme Weather

Temperatures will drop by 8 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit after the front, which will catalyze the severe weather over the Midwest. Tuesday's highs in Chicago will be near 80, down from Monday's high in the upper 80s.

A hazardous weather configuration will develop across portions of the Northeast on Tuesday during the day as the front moves further east.

On Tuesday, the I-81 corridor in the Appalachian and Great Lakes area and the I-91 zone in northern New England are anticipated to see the most intense storms.

Temperature Surge

The United States Drought Monitor report from last week stated that despite the possibility of floods and traffic delays, the rainfall from the downpours will be helpful since large portions of the Northeast are now experiencing moderate to exceptional drought.

The Northeast will experience much colder air coming in behind the front later this week.

Highs in the mid 80s on Tuesday will change to highs in the lower 70s and even the low 60s by Thursday over the higher altitudes of the Appalachians, where some of the largest temperature decreases will occur. By the end of the week, lows at night will generally be in the 60s along the I-95 corridor and the 40s and 50s across the interior.

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