We begin tonight with threats of severe weather from dangerous heat in the south to thunderstorms and possible tornadoes stretching from the Great Lakes to the east coast. Storms have already created havoc for air travelers with more than six thousand flights delayed and more than thirteen hundred canceled. Airports from Atlanta to New York experienced ground stops this afternoon, forcing the FAA to reroute flights around the storms. More than thirty million Americans in nearly a dozen states are under tornado watches from North Carolina to New York. In Tennessee, downed trees like these outside the city of Maryville have left tens of thousands without power. Meanwhile, in the south, unrelenting heat is scorching residents from coast to coast.

The storm systems just blasted through reading, packing quite a punch with heavy rain, lightning and strong gusts of wind, which could reach up to seventy-five miles per hour as the system roars across the region. Ominous warnings of an approaching tornado sounded in Flatwoods, Kentucky today. Severe thunderstorms packing violent winds stretched across the south, ripping branches off trees in Tennessee. Downtown Parkersburg, West Virginia turned into a flood zone brought on by heavy afternoon rain. The storm system push through Midwest this weekend with reports of nearly a dozen tornadoes, including one in Christian County, Illinois, shredding roofs and damaging power lines. From California to Texas to Florida, about one hundred million are under heat alerts.