The system we mentioned earlier this week has started is progression across the country. Widespread rain and storms, mild temperatures and some snow across the Four Corners has been the calling card so far today:

By Friday, another round of severe weather will occur across the Southeast:

This includes the risk for damaging winds and tornadoes! Storms will be ongoing Friday morning and then redevelop in the afternoon. The below forecast radar goes from Friday 7 am ET to Sat 7 am ET:

The severe threat will continue into Saturday, pushing further east to include cities like Charlotte:

The rain will be heavy as well. The below forecast shows rain totals from Fri 7 AM ET to Sun 7 AM ET:

We mentioned earlier this week that this is mostly good news with the widespread drought that has developed across not only the Southeast but most of the country. In fact, California is the only state with no drought at all:

Ahead of the system, several record highs and record warm lows are possible Friday and Saturday. On Friday morning alone, there are over 60 record warm lows possible from South Texas to Michigan:

For Friday’s highs, nearly 30 record highs are possible:

Saturday morning will bring another round of impressive record warm lows, this time reaching from the Northeast to the Southeast:

Behind rain and storms, the Southeast will be below average next week. The rest of the country will have above average temperatures. Keep in mind though that we are entering the coldest part of the year. Even though the temperatures will be above average they won’t be necessarily warm:

Looking into the later half of January, cold temperatures look to take over for much of the Eastern US:

It is too early to tell if that will lead to any snow storms across the region. The cold air will be in place, so the possibility is there!