Map Shows Nearly All US States Bracing for New Storm

Nearly every U.S. state is bracing for severe weather next week as a winter storm brings heavy precipitation and a thunderstorm threat across the nation.

The storm will affect the western U.S. beginning on Sunday, bringing widespread precipitation to a large swath of the region. The storm will continue its trek eastward across the nation throughout the week, with severe thunderstorms and heavy precipitation hitting the Central, Midwestern and Eastern states.

The National Weather Service's (NWS) Weather Prediction Center shared a map that shows the days-long impact of the storm, with high precipitation amounts in the Pacific Northwest and parts of the Midwest and the intermountain West.

By Tuesday and Wednesday, the storm will bring rain to Texas and severe thunderstorms, as well as higher than average temperatures, to the Midwest. By Thursday, rain will begin falling on the East Coast.

Despite the threat of rain throughout the nation, NWS Lead Forecaster Bob Oravec told Newsweek that the Pacific Northwest will face the greatest impact, as several storms are predicted to bring rain and snow to that area over the coming week. Up to 7 inches of precipitation are expected from the Cascade mountains westward.

"With the first storm, as it moves inland [across the U.S.], it is pretty fast-moving, so it probably will not produce any flooding rains," Oravec said. "From Tuesday night into Wednesday, there could easily be a line of thunderstorms that form along the cold front associated with the storm, anywhere from the Mississippi Valley up into the Ohio Valley."

A map from AccuWeather showed that Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas will face the threat of thunderstorms on Tuesday night. More storms will plague a swath of the U.S. from Memphis, Tennessee, up through Indiana and Ohio on Wednesday.

As many as 50 million people could be affected by the storm once it arrives, AccuWeather said.

"The potential for a multiple-day severe weather outbreak, including tornadoes, continues to build from portions of the Great Plains to large parts of the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys spanning Tuesday and Wednesday of next week," the AccuWeather report said. "The severe weather risk may even reach parts of the Appalachians and Eastern Seaboard on Thursday."

The report also warned that a strong cold front will accompany the storm, preceded by a "surge of warm, moist air." Central states will experience above-average temperatures early next week before the storm hits.

"Temperatures are likely to surge to record-high levels by day and remain at unusually high levels at night in much of the Central states ahead of the front," AccuWeather reported.