January 9, 2024 - Winter storm slams central and eastern US

This satellite animation provides a complete snapshot of the storm encompassing much of the eastern half of the US Tuesday. The storm and its associated cold front form a distinct comma shape – a hallmark of non-tropical storms.

The storm’s center — the comma’s head — hovers over the Mississippi Valley, while its long cold front — the comma's tail — stretches from the eastern US to Mexico.

Much of the East is obscured by the storm’s thick cloud cover, making it difficult to get any peeks at the surface below. But clear skies in the Southwest reveal snow in the mountainous areas of Arizona and New Mexico.

Both states were the first to feel the storm’s impacts when it brought rain and snow to the desert on Sunday. It later moved across the central US Monday.

More than 9 million people are under a new tornado watch issued by the Storm Prediction Center until 6 p.m. ET.

Portions of northern Florida, southeastern Georgia, south central North Carolina and much of South Carolina are under the watch — including Jacksonville in Florida, Savannah in Georgia, Charlotte in North Carolina, and Columbia and Charleston in South Carolina.

There have been 12 tornadoes reported across Florida, Alabama and Georgia this morning associated with this line of storms.

A massive winter storm has knocked out power to more than 100,000 customers in Florida alone as of 1 p.m. ET Tuesday, according to poweroutage.us.

The winter storm is bringing blinding snow, tornadoes and winds gusting over 50 mph from the Plains to the East Coast. The South has the most power outages on Tuesday morning, where a strong line of thunderstorms is moving through. 

This storm will continue to push eastward and is likely to cause more power outages as it reaches the high population areas of the East Coast, where the ground is also saturated and high winds are expected.

These are some of the top outages by state:

Intense winds are forecast to pound parts of the East Coast Tuesday evening through Tuesday night, raising concerns for significant damage, power outages and coastal flooding.

Some of the strongest winds will center on North Carolina.

Tropical-storm-force wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph are likely across the eastern half of the state Tuesday evening, with hurricane-force gusts near 75 mph possible in the Outer Banks.

These strong winds are tied to the considerable strength of the storm slamming much of the East with adverse weather. But a layer of strong winds located in the low atmosphere called the low-level jet will also lend a helping hand.

Severe thunderstorms are forecast to rock a large part of the Carolinas later Tuesday. When they do, these storms will build high enough into the atmosphere to tap into the low-level jet and send its strong winds rushing toward the surface.

More concerning, the low-level jet is expected to be “unusually strong for this time of year” and could possibly become the strongest ever recorded during winter for the area, according to the National Weather Service in Morehead City, North Carolina.

As a strong line of severe weather moves across Florida, causing significant property damage, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency in 49 of Florida's 67 counties.

Counties in the executive order include:

Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hernando, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Seminole, Sumter, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton, Washington

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy urged residents to be vigilant about rain, flooding and high winds expected from a storm that could result in significant power outages in the Garden State. 

The worst of the weather is forecast to hit between Tuesday night and early Wednesday, Murphy told CNN affiliate WABC on Tuesday morning.

Parts of New Jersey already have ground saturation from previous rainfall, which — combined with melting snow — is cause for concern, according to the governor.

The governor said the state is cooperating with different agencies to become better equipped to fight storms. "It takes time, but frankly, Mother Nature is dragging us along right now," he said. "We've gotta reverse that." 

His warning comes as the mayor of Paterson, New Jersey, declared a state of emergency in his city starting at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday in anticipation of a "torrential downpour."

"We're coordinating our efforts to ensure the safety of all residents in the city of Paterson," Paterson Mayor André Sayegh said at a press conference Tuesday morning.

"You have snow that's melting and then you have rain that's on the way," Sayegh said. "So that poses a problem for the Passaic River."

Officials will issue a flash flood warning this afternoon, immediately close certain streets, and start asking people in flood-prone areas to leave their homes, Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Troy Ayers said at the press conference.

The Passaic is predicted to crest at 9.3 feet, so officials are "preparing for the worst," Ayers said.

Last month, Sayegh declared a state of emergency as the area was hit with a coastal storm.

As the powerful storm packing rain, snow and wind makes its way eastward, it is drawing some extra oomph from hundreds of miles away.

The system is unlocking extra water from an atmospheric river connected to the warm Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean — increasing the ceiling on its potential severity, according to Jay Cordeira, an atmospheric scientist for the Center For Western Weather Water and Extremes.

Atmospheric rivers are like conveyor belts of moisture. Most of the water is in vapor form, but storms act to wring it out in the form of rain and snow.

The term is canon on the West Coast, where atmospheric rivers are responsible for most of the region's water and also its floods. They are even rated like hurricanes based on their severity.

But atmospheric rivers happen globally, including on the East Coast, where they're actually fairly common — just not usually this impactful.

The East Coast typically sees as many as three atmospheric rivers as potent as Tuesday's each year, Cordeira told CNN. In December, a Category 5 atmospheric river caused deadly and destructive flooding in New England.

What's even more rare is that this atmospheric river comes after one this past weekend dumped the Northeast's first big snow, and as another significant one is forecast for Friday and Saturday.

Having several atmospheric events in a row over a short period of time can make each subsequent one increasingly impactful as the ground gets more saturated, lowering the amount of rain needed to cause flooding.

More than 30 million Americans in the Northeast and Southeast face a Level 3 out of 4 threat for flooding rain Tuesday from the storm.

While there are numerous reports of damage from severe storms in the Florida Panhandle, no injuries have been confirmed yet, according to Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie.

However, he has urged caution, telling CNN: “With the type of damage I am seeing coming in from some of these videos … it would not surprise me if (we) had some minor injuries.”

Guthrie said the state has tracked as many as 16 radar-confirmed tornadoes, with up to four of those being on the ground. 

There are some destroyed structures near Lower Grand Lagoon, according to Guthrie. “A destroyed condo, an older condo that’s probably 1970s, 1980s construction. We have a boat yard that lost about half of its storage facility,” he said.

Guthrie said crews are already on scene in Bay County assessing damage, and they hope to move more resources to the area after the storm moves through the state. 

He said there is a possibility for strong EF-2 or higher tornado in the Tallahassee area as the storm tracks east, adding that authorities are "expecting a very long day, (and) it’s been a very long night."

Storm chaser Jay Lesyk said he was in Grand Lagoon in Panama City Beach, Florida, when he observed a tornado that hit the area early Tuesday morning. 

“I was chasing and almost got hit by it,” Lesyk said. “I was first on scene and could hear people screaming, smell of gas, and just saw a bunch of destruction all down the street.”

Lesyk also attempted to rescue a woman who was trapped in her home but eventually guided first responders to her, he told CNN.