Over 85 million at risk of a severe thunderstorm outbreak across the eastern U.S.

An extensive area of the East and South U.S., home to over 85 million people, faces imminent danger from severe thunderstorms, including destructive wind gusts. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses may be without power by Tuesday morning.

A new severe thunderstorm watch is in place until 1 a.m. EDT for the Northeast, including New York City. Severe thunderstorms will continue well into the evening hours. Check in with Weather & Radar tomorrow morning for a recap on this ongoing severe weather outbreak.

Power outages continue to grow. The Southeast has the most customers without power (340,162) but the Mid-Atlantic (239,062) isn't far behind. The WeatherRadar shows severe thunderstorms approaching the Philadelphia metro area. The bowing shape of this line of storms indicates that a widespread damaging wind threat is on the way.

The Storm Prediction Center has now received more than 300 reports of severe weather, including 168 wind reports. With more severe weather expected into the nighttime hours, it's important to stay weather aware and to turn on your Weather & Radar app alerts.

Storms are fast approaching the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore metro areas. Take cover now.

So far more than 1,300 flights within, into, or out of the U.S. have been canceled mainly due to the severe weather currently impacting the eastern part of the country. The Storm Prediction Center has already received nearly 150 severe weather reports.

A powerful line of storms is moving into the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metro areas. Take shelter now, winds may gust upwards of 80 mph with these storms. Power outages also continue to mount. A total of 228,307 customers are without power across the South and Mid-Atlantic. The numbers for each state is listed below (info: poweroutage.us).

Powerful storms are dropping large hail in the Mid-Atlantic, including golf ball-sized hail in Williamsport, Md. Large hail will continue to be a threat into the evening hours as storms push east.

Weather & Radar Meteorologist James West provided this update from Frederick, Md., where conditions are ripe for severe storms to roll across the Washington, D.C., area.

Reportedly, federal offices in Washington, D.C., are set to close at 3 p.m., with employees authorized to depart for their homes as soon as possible.

Clusters of severe thunderstorms are pushing east into portions of Virginia and Maryland. Track storms on our interactive WeatherRadar and make sure to turn on weather alert notifications to stay ahead of any incoming adverse conditions.

The Tornado Watch has been extended east to include West Virginia, Maryland, most of Virginia, central Pennsylvania, eastern Tennessee, and west and north North Carolina.

The Tornado Watch depicts areas with very favorable setups for severe thunderstorms capable of producing strong tornadoes, isolated with fusts to 75 mph and hail up to 1.5 inches.

Nearly 75 thousand customers are without power across Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia. We expect this number to rise substantially as we head later into the afternoon.

There are dozens of wind damage reports so far, with numerous reports of damage to trees and powerlines across western Tennessee and West Virginia. The greatest risk of widespread, potentially destructive winds remains centered along a confined corridor from western Virginia to far southeastern Pennsylvania.

Just as we predicted, the weather is getting serious across the Mid-Atlantic. A Tornado Watch has been posted for much of the region, including Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Harrisburg, State College and Williamsport, Pa.

Weather & Radar meteorologist James West recorded this video a short time ago from his location in Frederick, Md.

Weather & Radar meteorologist Mary Mays will have a live forecast at 01:00 p.m. EDT and will be walking you through today's severe weather threats.

A line of strong to severe thunderstorms is moving across the Ohio and Tennessee Valley and will continue to intensify and increase in coverage through the early afternoon as they head east. You can track their movement on the interactive WeatherRadar.

Since the time of this update, there have been three damaging wind and three hail reports. In Oakland, Tenn., a strong thunderstorm produced a wind gust up to 65 mph. We expect these storms to intensify as we head into mid- to late afternoon.

A Tornado Watch has been issued for portions of Central and Eastern Kentucky, Southern Ohio, Southwest Pennsylvania, Western Virginia, and West Virginia until 6:00 p.m. EDT. Intense supercell storms are likely today in and around the tornado watch areas, leading to severe weather with tornadoes, hail, and widespread damaging winds, especially as storms move toward the Appalachians later in the day.

Weather & Radar meteorologist Mary Mays will have a live forecast at 01:00 p.m. EDT and will be walking you through today's severe weather threats.

A moderate risk, a level 4 out of 5, of severe thunderstorms is in place from New York to the Deep South today. Check out the latest forecast analysis by our meteorologist James West with the latest information on timing and what to expect from these storms. Several large metro areas, including Baltimore and Washington D.C., are under the greatest threat.