The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is warning about the possibility of severe thunderstorms in the eastern United States on Saturday, with strong to severe storms likely in portions of New York, Pennsylvania, and the southeast coast from North Carolina to northern Florida. The greatest threat of severe weather will strike during the afternoon hours from late morning into early evening.

According to the SPC,  a shortwave mid-level shortwave trough embedded in a  larger-scale upper trough over the Midwest will lift northeast toward the Northeast on Saturday. A surface low will shift northeast along the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Valley while a cold front will extend east across the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic. Isolated to widely-scattered thunderstorms will be possible from northern Florida and southeast Georgia into the eastern Carolinas ahead of the front through the afternoon. Further north across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York,  additional scattered storms are expected in the vicinity of the surface low and  surface front by late morning and shifting east and northeast through early evening.

Within these severe weather areas depicted in the SPC’s Convective Outlook, isolated tornadoes, wind damage, and large hail are possible.