Unseasonably cold in the central states
 |
Satellite image of the United States taken on Thursday at 7:24 a.m. EDT.
Story Tools
|
(AP) -- Rain and thunderstorms struck much of the East early Thursday, while the central part of the country was unseasonably chilly. Most of the West stayed dry.
Showers and thunderstorms were forecast across the mid-Atlantic, Appalachians, Southeast, Tennessee Valley and the Gulf Coast.
The strongest thunderstorms were predicted to produce wind gusts of up to 55 mph, moderate lightning and heavy downpours.
By mid-afternoon, showers and thunderstorms were expected to grow tamer in the lower Mississippi Valley.
A few lingering showers were possible across New England, otherwise the weather was expected to be dry.
Temperatures in the central states were expected to be 10 to 20 degrees below normal as far south as Oklahoma, with snow flurries near the Canadian border. Cloudy skies were forecast across much of the Great Plains.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms also were expected across southern Missouri, Arkansas, southern Oklahoma and northern Texas.
Dry weather was forecast in much of the West, except for scattered showers and snow showers at high elevations in western Oregon and northwestern California.
High temperatures on Thursday were forecast in the 20s and 30s in the Upper Midwest and the Northern Rockies; 30s and 40s in the northern and central Plains and the Northwest; 40s and 50s in the Northeast, Ohio Valley, Great Lakes, Great Basin and southern Rockies; 50s and 60s in the Ozarks, along the Pacific Coast and the mid-Atlantic; 60s and 70s in the southern Plains and the Southeast; and the 70s and 80s in the Gulf Coast states.
Temperatures in the lower 48 states on Wednesday ranged from a low of minus-22 in West Yellowstone, Montanaa, to a high of 90 degrees in Vandenburg, Florida.
Copyright 2003 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
