Powerful Storms, Downpours Take Aim at Eastern U.S.

UPDATED 12:15 AM EDT, April 19, 2013

UPDATED By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Fred Allen

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A powerful spring storm will trigger a final hurrah of severe thunderstorms for residents of the Carolinas and lower Virginia to close out a busy weather week across the U.S. Even those that don't get in the mix for severe weather will be doused by a quick-hitting punch of downpours today and early on Saturday.

The same storm system directly responsible for a two-day burst of severe weather and drenching rainfall covering more than 1,200 miles of the Nation's Midsection this week will ultimately be the Eastern U.S.'s problem to conclude the workweek and start the weekend off on a rough note for some.

The trigger for the severe thunderstorms extending from lower Virginia into the Carolinas will be a sharp cold front sliding eastward from its current location draped from the Great Lakes to the Lower Mississippi Valley. As it pushes into unseasonably warm and humid air being driven northward from the Gulf of Mexico across the eastern-third of the U.S., it will team up with much cooler and drier Canadian air expanding toward the Appalachian Spine in its wake.