Severe weather threat shifts to East Coast

A spring storm system that brought heavy rain, wind, snow and tornadoes across several states Tuesday is now making its way to the East Coast, putting potentially millions more in the path of severe weather.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a bulletin Wednesday that residents from the Great Lakes region, New York, New England and the mid-Atlantic region could all be affected through Friday.

“The system will create significant impacts from heavy snow and wind, and the combination of heavy snow rates and gusty winds will lead to dangerous travel conditions, with whiteout conditions and snow-covered roads,” the NWS wrote. “The combination of wet snow, high snow load, and strong wind gusts could also result in tree damage and power outages.”

NWS forecasters advised that showers and thunderstorms will produce heavy rain over parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast through Thursday morning.

“Prolonged onshore winds late Wednesday and continuing through Thursday will result in moderate coastal flooding for portions of the Northeast Coast,” NWS continued in the bulletin. “Impacts include widespread roadway flooding, coastal and bayside flooding, impassable roads, and some damage to vulnerable structures.”

The storm system already unleashed heavy wind and rain, tornadoes, downed trees and flooding from the Ohio Valley through the South earlier in the week. Thousands of people remained without power as of Wednesday morning, according to Poweroutage.us, which tracks outages across the country.

Kentucky Gov. Andrew Beshear (D) and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) have declared states of emergency for their residents.