Cross-country storm moving out, cold temps coming in

Updated: Feb 18, 2022 / 08:13 AM CST

(NewsNation Now) — A cross-country winter storm hit the central and eastern half of the United States on Thursday, bringing heavy snow, damaging thunderstorms and several isolated tornadoes. Meteorologists predict a cold front moving in as the storm exits the Northeast.

“The system is heading offshore. It will be moving out but cold air is blasting in behind it knocking back temperatures quite a bit. We’re talking a lot of the Midwest dropping to the 20s,” NewsNation meteorologist Gerard Jebaily said.

The cold front will produce showers and thunderstorms across the Southeast and Midwest creating colder and drier conditions, the National Weather Service said.

Winter storm, strong wind and thunderstorm warnings and watches are in place for a wide swath of the nation, stretching 1,500 miles from western Oklahoma to northern Maine well into Friday, the service said.

On Thursday, the system dumped at minimum of four inches of snow on an area from Oklahoma to Michigan and into the Northeast while threatening Mississippi and Tennessee up through Ohio and into the Northeast with severe thunderstorms.

“Heavy snow from Kansas City up through the south side of Chicago area and Detroit; we even had 10 inches of snow there through central Illinois,” Jebaily said.

Kansas City reported seven inches of snow, the most the city has seen since 2014.

The system also produced a possible isolated tornado in Alabama near the Birmingham suburb of Leeds, where a tree fell onto a mobile home while a couple was inside, according to the Associated Press.

Meteorologists say another storm system will hit the Pacific Northwest by Saturday evening, producing rain for the coastal ranges and heavy snowfall.