A line of severe thunderstorms moving out of Ohio is heading for the Northeast Saturday evening bringing the potential for damaging winds, large hail with even a few possible tornadoes across the region, including the I-95 corridor.

“I-95 corridor, prepare yourself — 40-60 mph winds and tornadoes can’t be ruled out,” warned FOX Weather Meteorologist Amy Freeze.

Early morning rains were moving out of the Northeast, and soon a brief period of clearing skies was forecast to send temperatures soaring into the 60s and 70s.

“You get a surge of the warmth coming in and a little sunshine; it’s not a complete bust of a day,” Freeze said about Saturday. “With temperatures reaching the 60s and 70s, this might be comfortable. But don’t let your guard down.”

The warm air along with twisting winds will add fuel to the storms racing east out of Ohio, further developing potential for damaging winds with gusts over 60 mph and even a few tornadoes.

“Looking at the evidence in the atmosphere, there is tornado potential,” Freeze said. “It doesn’t look like it’s going to be as fierce as it was (Friday) night but certainly there is the availability here of that energy.”

NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has upgraded the severe weather risk for much of the Northeast, now placing a large swath of the region in a Level 3 of 5 severe weather outlook that includes 30 million people in areas such as New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and much of Pennsylvania.

The tornado threat potential is primarily focused over New York City, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware, with storms likely arriving between 5-9 p.m. ET.

In addition, a Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect for eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and western New York until 6 p.m. ET and a secondary watch has been issued for much of interior New York and Pennsylvania through 8 p.m.

The FOX Forecast Center says it is likely that further watches will be issued later in the day.

“In the Northeast, a lot of people are going to be waking up (Saturday) morning, they’re going to see the severe weather images we’re talking about,” Freeze said. “Then their day is going to start, maybe even see a little sunshine. The important message is: The low pressure itself that’s driving this energy force has not yet crossed into the Northeast (Saturday morning) – you’ve got to wait for that later (Saturday.)” 

The storms will usher in a significant temperature drop as well, with temperatures in the 60s Saturday dropping into the upper 30s or low 40s by daybreak Sunday. 

Severe thunderstorms have developed across the Peach State and the Storm Prediction Center has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for extreme southeast Alabama and much of southern Georgia.

Bands of showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop and move southeastward through the afternoon.

The biggest threats are from hail and damaging winds, but an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out.

Communities that are bracing for the potential for severe weather include Savannah and Valdosta.

The combination of early morning storms and gusty winds have already caused problems in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Hundreds of thousands of electricity outages have been reported by PowerOutage.us.

The hardest hit regions on Saturday were around the Cleveland and Pittsburgh metro areas.

Winds have gusted to 45 mph in Columbus and Washington, D.C. has seen reported wind gusts approaching 30 mph. The FOX Forecast Center said gusts in the 30-50 mph can dislodge small branches and lead to isolated pockets of outages.

More than 800,000 outages were in the eastern half of the country, courtesy of a storm system that continues to march eastward.