Tornadoes, severe storms likely over the weekend in the South

A storm that delivered heavy snow to the Rockies and strong storms in the Southern Plains is set to bring severe weather to the South on Saturday.

Snow, wind and severe storms are on the way from the Rockies to the Midwest and the Deep South over the weekend.

Twenty-four states from California to Virginia are under snow and wind alerts on Friday.

The storm system will be moving through the Rockies on Friday afternoon and bring more heavy snow to Colorado.

Ahead of the storm, severe weather will break out later Friday in the Southern Plains, from Oklahoma to Texas, including Dallas and Oklahoma City. Damaging winds and an isolated tornado are the biggest threats.

By Saturday afternoon, the bull’s-eye of the severe storms will move into the Deep South from Louisiana into Mississippi and Tennessee where damaging winds, large hail and a few tornadoes are possible.

To the north, a major winter storm with blizzard-like conditions are expected from the Dakotas into Nebraska, Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin. Locally, more than a foot of snow is possible just southwest of the Twin Cities.

Some airlines in Minneapolis-St. Paul have already started issuing travel waivers due to the upcoming snowstorm.

The storm system will reach the Northeast by Saturday night into Sunday morning with a quick burst of snow before changing to an icy mix and then gradually to rain.

The biggest snowfall and ice accumulations will be north of New York City and west of Boston, where some areas could get a half a foot of snow.