Powerful storms in Plains

Satellite image of the United States taken Thursday at 6:32 a.m. EDT

May 18, 2000
Web posted at: 8:17 a.m. EDT (1217 GMT)

(AP) -- A powerful storm that battered parts of the Plains continued to move across the region this morning, while snow fell in parts of the Rockies. A cold front was expected to bring rain and thunderstorms to the Northeast later Thursday.

Powerful thunderstorms and tornadoes pummeled a wide swath of the country Wednesday, from Colorado to western New York. Several states reported broken tree limbs, power outages and flooded streams. Heavy snow was also across the front range of the Rockies.

A cold front approaching from the northern Plains was expected to bring areas of rain and scattered thunderstorms to a large portion of the Northeast, with the heaviest precipitation over the western Great Lakes and Ohio Valley.

Flash flooding is also possible across the Great Lakes region moving into the Northeast. Rain and scattered thundershowers are expected to spread south into Virginia. But only isolated thundershowers are expected to pop up across Florida and the Southeast, which along with the Gulf Coast and Tennessee Valley, is expected to remain mostly dry and warm.

The strong storm system that was in the Plains is expected to push over into the Mississippi Valley, producing heavy rainfall, high winds, large hail and isolated tornadoes. The lower Gulf Coast region and Texas is forecast to remain dry and warm.

The storm moving over the Plains and an upper system moving over the central Rockies is expect to bring rain and thunderstorms to Wyoming and Colorado. A storm system approaching the Pacific Northwest is expected to bring clouds and some showers to coastal Washington and Oregon. Most of the western portion of the nation is expected to remain dry with breezy conditions.

Today's forecast highs: in the 50s and 60s in the Northeast and northern Great Lakes; in the 70s in the southern Great Lakes and the Middle-Atlantic; in the 80s in the Southeast and the Southern Plains; in the 40s and 50s in the Rockies; in the 60s and 60s in the Pacific Northwest and coastal California; and in the 80s and 90s, with a few 100-degree readings, in the desert Southwest.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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