Millions face vacation travel as storms batter the Pacific Northwest and South

Scattered storms and thunderstorms will hit the southern United States on Thursday, with potential threats to cities like Houston, Waco, Lufkin in Texas and Shreveport and Alexandria in Louisiana.

The Storm Prediction Center issued a low risk of severe storms for parts of the Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas region on Thursday, warning that heavy rainfall could occur with a small risk of flash flooding. Heavy rain is expected to continue across the Mid-South into Friday as the system slowly moves east, the NWS said.

Additional strong storms are possible in Louisiana and Mississippi on Friday, but more organized severe storms are possible on Saturday.

Next Saturday, 5 million people are already at risk from storms including hail, strong winds and isolated tornadoes that could hit Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lake Charles in Louisiana and Jackson, Mississippi.

The severe threat could remain Sunday for northern Florida, south/east Georgia and portions of the Carolinas.

Meanwhile, a series of atmospheric river events are occurring across the Pacific Northwest, resulting in “moderate to heavy rainfall” and some thunderstorms Thursday morning, the National Weather Service said in its morning warning.

The system is expected to reduce rainfall totals by 1 to 3 inches, which may lead to flooding. According to the weather service, the system will move inland and pause Thursday afternoon. There will be another shower through the evening and another 1 to 2 inches of rain will fall by Friday morning.

Up to 3 feet of snow is possible in the Cascades, and there will also be snow in the northern Rockies over the weekend.

Wind warnings continue to affect 10 million people today from California to Oregon and Washington and east to Idaho.

Winter storm warnings and high surf are in effect for Washington, Oregon and Northern California.

High surf and strong storm waves caused the Santa Cruz Wharf to collapse on Monday, sending three people into the sea. Two were rescued from the water and a third. Made it out of the sea alone. All were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Elsewhere, dry conditions are forecast for the desert southwest, northern plains and northeastern U.S. through the weekend.

The weather is changing as millions of people are expected to go on vacation or return home from their trips. AAA predicts that from December 21 to January 1, 119.3 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home, including 107 million by car.

East Coast drivers heading home will have clear weather conditions Thursday.

However, road traffic will be difficult in mountain passes in the northwest, and Dallas and Houston could experience airport delays and road slowdowns due to the storms.