Severe weather shifts east after blasting two states

Following more than 100 reports of severe weather in the South on Wednesday, including 25 tornadoes, the threat of violent storms shifted east.

While the threat of storms was highest in the Carolinas and Georgia, an elevated threat of severe weather covered a much broader region, spanning from Florida to Pennsylvania and affecting 40 million people, the National Weather Service said.

It comes after Alabama and Mississippi were hit hard by tornadoes Wednesday, with numerous homes damaged or destroyed, and at least two injuries.

The main trigger for the storms is a cold front sweeping through the Southeast. Ahead of it, a warm front was pushing north through the Mid- Atlantic, which will leave behind a zone of warm, humid air to its south. Within that warm sector, stretching from approximately Florida to central Virginia and southern Maryland, thunderstorms were expected to become numerous, and some intense.

Between Tuesday evening and early Thursday, the Weather Service issued nearly 100 tornado warnings and more than 200 severe thunderstorm warnings, tweeted Greg Diamond, a meteorologist and producer at The Weather Channel.

The Weather Service received 116 reports of severe weather on Wednesday from Texas to Georgia. By far the greatest concentration of thunderstorms was over Alabama and Mississippi — a swarm of tornadoes and damaging thunderstorm winds.

While no fatalities were reported from the outbreak, likely due to advance warning, there were multiple reports of damaged and destroyed homes, particularly in Alabama. And two injuries were reported from a tornado that hit Clarke County, north of Mobile.

Chilton County in Alabama was particularly hard hit by a twister. Photos in the wake of a tornado near Clanton showed homes leveled and heavily damaged.

The most intense tornado activity large avoided densely populated areas, lessening the overall toll of the outbreak. But Birmingham broadcast meteorologist James Spann stressed many Alabamians were strongly affected.

“Just because a tornado didn’t hit a larger city like Birmingham or Tuscaloosa doesn’t mean ‘ bust.’ There are real people who live in rural areas, and there is real suffering this morning,” he tweeted.

VASHA HUNT/ AP Investigators survey heavy damage in Clanton, Alabama, on Thursday, a day after severe storms swept across the Southeast. The Weather Service received 116 reports of severe weather from Texas to Georgia.