Storm with drenching rain, wind and thunder to pivot through Northeast into Monday

The same storm that produced a swarm of tornadoes in the south-central United States will race through the Northeast into Monday. Enough rain, wind and fog will occur to hinder travel ahead of the New Year's holiday, AccuWeather meteorologists say.

Instead of bringing a high risk of tornadoes, the storm will bring soaking rain and drizzle, as well as areas of fog and gusty winds to most locations in the Northeast. The main impacts will be slow travel for motorists and airline delays at regional and major hubs.

However, the storm in the Northeast will have enough pent-up energy to trigger robust showers and even some thunderstorms in portions of the Ohio Valley, central Appalachians and lower mid-Atlantic into Sunday night, and then the potential for the same for the upper mid-Atlantic, New England and even the northern Appalachians from Sunday night to Monday.

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As these downpours backed by gusty winds pivot through the various regions, they can create ponding on the roads, a dangerous drop in visibility for motorists and may lead to ground stops at some of the major airport hubs.

"There can be rumbles of thunder as far north as the northern tier of Pennsylvania, New York City and southern New England," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek said.

In the area from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., the bulk of the downpours will occur from late Sunday afternoon to Sunday night.

The downpours will tend to swing through the zone from Philadelphia to New York City from late Sunday evening to early Monday morning. The rain will be ending from west to east in this zone during the morning rush hour.

In Boston, this will be primarily a Monday rain event, but the bulk of the downpours may exit by Monday evening rush hour.

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As the storm continues to roll along, the rain will end abruptly from southwest to northeast over the region from Sunday night to Monday.

The stormy pattern is not likely to end when the rain departs at the start of the week. A trailing storm will bring rain and snow to the Northeast from Tuesday to Wednesday. The storm is still on track to douse revelers at Times Square in New York City on Tuesday evening.

The January pattern is likely to continue to evolve as much colder Arctic air begins to pour southeastward from northern Canada. Each storm moving along in the pattern may have a greater chance of delivering snow to portions of the Midwest, Appalachians and even the Interstate 95 corridor.

At the very least, the evolving pattern may bring damaging freezes to portions of the Southeast and South Central states and dangerous cold across the Midwest to portions of the Northeast.

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