Temperatures fell rapidly across the South Thursday afternoon as strong winds pushed a cold front into the region and many places, including the Gainesville area, reported power outage as the winds pushed trees across powerlines.
Temperatures were predicted to drop as much as 30 degrees in a few hours, and forecasters said severe storms were possible from Alabama to New England.
Winds gusted above 30 mph, and trees were toppled in the western Carolinas and Tennessee, where news outlets reported at least five people were injured when trees hit vehicles. A tornado watch stretched from western Virginia to northern Pennsylvania.
At least 80,000 homes and businesses were in the dark because of intermittent power outages from Louisiana to West Virginia.
"It looks like we had around 20-25 calls for trees down and/or powerlines down throughout the county," Hall County Emergency Management Agency Director Casey Ramsey said at mid-afternoon. "Crews are actively working to clear all those calls currently. None of them are causing any major issues that warrant notifying the public to avoid the area at this point. I also checked and it looks like there are about 3,500 people affected by power outages as well."
A freeze warning reached across more than a dozen states, including Georgia, from southwestern Texas into the South and Midwest. Overnight lows could dip into the upper 20s in parts of the Deep South, including northeast Georgia, forecasters said.
A blanket of snow caused travel problems in Illinois, meanwhile, and as much as 3 inches (5 centimeters) of snow driven by 50 mph (80 kph) winds was predicted around the Great Lakes.
The storms provided another round of drought relief across the Southeast after weeks of dry weather endangered crops and increased fire risks. But a new federal report showed much of Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina are still too dry.
(AccessWDUN's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)
