At least 10 million Texans at risk for severe weather

While a major severe weather outbreak may loom for the Easter weekend, meteorologists remained concerned about severe storms in the short term for portions of Texas into Thursday night.

The weather pattern has been bringing rounds of heavy, gusty and severe thunderstorms over a broad area of the United States since Tuesday.

The storms into Thursday night may not only cause property damage but also pose threats to anyone spending time outdoors, including those waiting in line or providing service at outdoor COVID-19 triage and testing centers.

Following a two-day outbreak of severe weather over the central and eastern U.S. on Tuesday and Wednesday, the overall intensity and coverage of severe weather is likely to diminish on Thursday. However, due to an expanding area of much colder and drier air over the Central states, there will still be big thunderstorms rumbling in some heavily-populated locations in Texas.

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The main area where thunderstorms can approach severe levels on Thursday is likely to be in central and southeastern Texas, where at least 10 million will be at risk. Storms in this area during the afternoon and evening hours can bring incidents of large hail and strong wind gusts.

Wind reports from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center began to grow across the state around 2:30 p.m. CDT on Thursday, reporting wind damage to mostly power lines and trees, along with some damage to sheds.

Over 95,000 customers were without power in Texas by 6:40 p.m. CDT, according to PowerOutage.us.

Farther to the northeast, gusty showers and thunderstorms erupted along the leading edge of the press of chilly air in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England areas.

These fast-moving storms have all but swept off the Atlantic coast as of the mid-afternoon hours on Thursday.

As the storms rolled through central Pennsylvania during the midday hours on Thursday, strong wind gusts contributed to sporadic power outages.

The spread of colder, drier air will all but eliminate the risk of severe thunderstorms across the Central and Eastern states on Friday, but the quiet weather on Friday may be fleeting.

The storms that began on Tuesday and will continue through Thursday could pale in comparison to the pent-up violence the atmosphere may unleash in the not-so-distant future.

The clash of the chilly air to the north and a surge of warm and humid air from the Gulf of Mexico could trigger a violent outbreak that may include tornadoes from Saturday to Monday with perhaps the greatest number of severe weather incidents on Easter Sunday.

AccuWeather will continue to provide updates on the threats for severe weather in the coming days.

Around 9 p.m. EDT Wednesday, there was a confirmed tornado southwest of Jonesboro, Arkansas, where an EF3 tornado left behind a trail of damage just one week ago. Two injuries have been reported as of early Thursday morning.

Tornado damage was confirmed in the town of Harrisburg, about 30 minutes south of Jonesboro. Over 30 houses were reportedly damaged in the area, according to local news station KAIT8.

Over 380 incidents of severe weather were reported Wednesday and Wednesday night from the Midwest to the Deep South.

At least three other tornadoes have been confirmed in Indiana, including one just outside of downtown Indianapolis. Over 150,000 customers were without power in the state, according to PowerOutage.us. That number had dropped to over 70,000 by Thursday morning.

Storms that erupted over the Midwest on Tuesday and spread to the central Appalachians and part of the mid-Atlantic coast into early Wednesday were responsible for over 280 incidents of severe weather. The majority of the severe weather reports were large hail with a diameter of at least 1 inch. Hail incidents of quarter-size were common, but there were hailstones to the size of golf balls, tennis balls and baseballs. There were at least two incidents of 3-inch-diameter hail near Browntown, Wisconsin, and Winnebago, Illinois.

Some of the thunderstorms also brought strong winds Tuesday night. A peak gust to 75 mph was recorded at Pittsburgh International Airport, which was the highest gust ever measured at the site with observations dating back to the mid-1900s.

There were a handful of tornado-warned storms on Tuesday, with the National Weather Service confirming three tornadoes in Ohio. Two were rated EF1 while the other was an EF0. A waterspout was observed by AccuWeather reporter Blake Naftel along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.