Showers and thunderstorms moved through the Great Lakes and extended into the Ohio River Valley on Thursday.
A low pressure system continued to move eastward through central Canada and created a cold front that extended southward, which produced widespread showers and thunderstorms over the Great Lakes and Midwest.
A few scattered showers lingered behind this front across the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Heavy rains and strong storms were not anticipated across the region as this system had limited available moisture. However, downwind shores of the Great Lakes saw periods of heavy rainfall as flow picked up moisture from the lakes.
To the south, the tail end of a cold front lingered over the Southeast and extended into the eastern Gulf of Mexico. This brought more thunderstorm activity to Florida and the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas. Some of these storms turned severe with periods of heavy rain and strong winds. Jacksonville Craig, Florida reported a mid-day total of 2.70 inches of rain, while strong winds blew down trees and power lines across northern Florida and southeastern Georgia.
Meanwhile, out West, a ridge of high pressure remained the dominant weather feature for the western half of the nation. This created another dry and sunny day, and allowed for fire danger to remain high. Additionally, high temperatures ranged in the 70s across the Northern Rockies, which is about 10 to 15 degrees above seasonable for the region.
THURSDAY'S WEATHER EXTREMES:
HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).........................104 El Centro, Calif.
HIGHEST HEAT INDEX (DEGREES F)..........................104 Key West, Fla.
LOWEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)..........................24 West Yellowstone, Mont.
LOWEST WIND CHILL (DEGREES F)...........................-8 Nenana, Alaska
HIGHEST WIND GUST (MPH).................................40 Perry, Fla.
HIGHEST PRECIPITATION (INCHES)..........................2.70 Jacksonville Craig, Fla.
ON THIS DATE....... The path of downed trees from the Adirondack Tornado of 1845 could be seen for decades as the storm traveled an amazing 275 miles through the northeast. The storm traveled across Lake Ontario, New York State, and Lake Champlain.
The Associated Press