What to Know as Winter Storms Pummel Most of U.S.

As dozens of states are under winter weather advisories on Saturday, meteorologists with the National Weather Service (NWS) warn that more severe weather is expected through at least Tuesday and will affect a “large” portion of the United States.

By Saturday evening, a pair of winter storms were unleashing severe weather on both coasts, with one storm expected to dump more than a foot of snow by Sunday evening on parts of Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington. The storm on the East Coast is expected to bring up to a foot of snow to parts of the northeast, dangerous winds and thunderstorms to the southeast and freezing rain to the mid-Atlantic, according to the NWS.

The winter storm hitting the East Coast caused extreme weather as far south as Florida on Saturday evening where a tornado ripped through Ft. Lauderdale, the NWS confirmed.

Kelly Godsey, a senior service hydrologist and meteorologist with the NWS in Tallahassee, Florida, told Newsweek in a phone interview on Saturday night that the tornado’s intensity had not been rated at the time of publication. He said that the storm in southern Florida was “the tail end” of the storm system that has been moving up the East Coast where it’s been churning out rain, snow and ice through the mid-Atlantic up to the New England.

“That cold front stretched all the way down across the southern part of Florida, and there are thunderstorms down there sufficient enough to generate severe weather and there was a tornado that went through the Fort Lauderdale area,” Godsey said.

A video shared on X, formerly Twitter, shows the tornado touching down.

“Tornado touches down in Fort Lauderdale shortly before 6 pm,” journalist Rich Healey posted on X. “A tornado warning was issued at 5:45 pm.”

City officials said in a statement that there have been no reports of injuries as of Saturday night and said that Fort Lauderdale Fire crews are assessing the tornado’s damage, “which appears to be minor.”

In the north, snow blanketed parts of several states with more in the forecast. Godsey urged northerners to be ready for more snowy and icy conditions.

Godsey said that Florida residents as well as people who live in other Gulf states, also need to be prepared for more dangerous weather over the next several days.

What’s in store for the next few days?

The winter storm that’s been hitting the western U.S. is expected to “rapidly strengthen” as it crosses the Rocky Mountains and moves across the country, Godsey told Newsweek. By the time the system reaches the East Coast, he warned that the storm is expected to be even more powerful than Saturday’s.

“We’re going to get a little bit of a break across the eastern United States, and then as we get into Monday evening and Tuesday, we’re going to start gearing up for a rather large storm system across the entire eastern United States,” Godsey said. “So, all the way from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast we’re going to see a variety of weather types. We’ll have snow on the northern end. We’ll have severe weather on the southern end.”

For coastal cities, along the Interstate 95 corridor, Godsey said that those areas are expected to just get rain. However, a “severe weather threat” is possible for the southeastern U.S., including Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana to even Texas.

Along the Gulf Coast, he said residents should be prepared on Tuesday for possible “destructive straight-line winds, tornadoes and large hail” and urges people to ensure that they have a way to hear severe weather alerts, even while sleeping.

“This is an excellent time when we’re still 48 hours away from the system getting going to make sure you get a weather radio or you get a way to receive alerts because some of these storms, particularly Monday night, are going to be coming in during the overnight hours,” Godsey said. “We want to make sure that folks are aware of these severe thunderstorm or tornado warnings.”

For people on the northern side of the system, Godsey said that “it’s been a little while” since the northern U.S. has seen some “pretty hefty snowfall.”

“There are a lot of communities out there where it’s been two or three years since they’ve had substantive snowfalls like this one coming on Tuesday,” he said.

He warned those in the north to ensure they have necessities to hunker down at home and to be cautious if they must venture out on the roads.

Where is severe weather expected?

Godsey didn’t give an exact number of states forecast to be affected by the strong storm system coming from the west but said a majority of the U.S. should be prepared for severe weather.

“It really is the entire eastern United States,” he said. “Snow in the Great Lakes and then all the way down to the Gulf Coast where we’re talking about severe weather. It’s impacting a large portion of the U.S. population. This is a storm that is pulling out of California and Nevada and heading eastward. We’re affecting just a lot of people with a system like this one.”