Massive Storm to Slam Central U.S. and Bring 'Wild Weather'

An enormous cross-country storm is poised to hit the central United States early next week bringing with it the possibility of freezing temperatures, flooding, and tornadoes.

According to Accuweather, most of the weather will occur from Monday through Wednesday, but will begin this weekend. The Tennessee Valley can expect a risk of flooding, while the Southwest will experience plunging temperatures and winds. Meteorologists at Accuweather say the storm may bring snow and ice to the Northeast later in the week.

"You name it, this storm will bring it in terms of wild weather next week," Bernie Rayno, AccuWeather chief meteorologist, said.

The storm will begin its strengthening phase as it moves across the Pacific Coast this weekend. Many areas ranging from western Washington to southern California will be impacted by heavy rain as the mountains will experience snow, AccuWeather reported.

The "full fury" of the wintery side of the storm will be evident across the Great Plains where temperatures will drop, allowing snow to expand from parts of Colorado to the Dakotas and northern Minnesota.

On the storm's warm side and up to 1,000 miles to the south of the Great Plains, thunderstorms will erupt, bringing the possibility of tornadoes. The severe thunderstorm risk will affect areas of Oklahoma and Texas.

On Saturday, meteorologist Scot Pilié took to Twitter and said, "Multi-day threat for severe weather this upcoming week. Damaging winds, large hail & tornadoes possible. Greatest severe weather risk arrives Tuesday across ArkLaTex [Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas]."

A number of violent thunderstorms are likely to occur on Monday and Tuesday nights, AccuWeather said. Millions of people in the potential path of the storms will need to closely monitor alerts as "visual confirmation of tornadoes on the ground may not be possible in every case."

Multiple severe weather systems have impacted the country recently, including the latest involving tornadoes in Mississippi. In late November, upstate New York was also hit with a lake-effect storm that impacted Buffalo and surrounding cities.

The historic snowstorm brought the region over 6 feet of snow. Meanwhile, Niagara Falls International Airport also recorded a 56 mile per hour gust of wind, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) Buffalo.

Newsweek has reached out to meteorologists for comment.