Severe Storms Bear Down on Florida, Georgia

By Meghan Evans, Meteorologist

February 7,2013; 6:22PM,EST

Update at 12:00 p.m. EST Thursday
The sheriff's office reported that a waterspout moved onshore as a tornado at 11:52 a.m. EST Thursday, causing damage 3 miles west of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. The damage was inflicted near the intersection of Highways 30A and 98.

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Georgia and Florida may be hammered by severe storms before a blizzard comes together across New England.
A storm unleashing downpours across the Gulf Coast will move across southern Georgia on Thursday afternoon and evening.
"Things will come together very quickly late Thursday afternoon," AccuWeather Expert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said of the severe weather potential.
Tallahassee, Apalachicola and Cross City, Fla., as well as Valdosta, Ga., are among the cities and towns that will be in the path of potentially damaging storms Thursday afternoon.
The biggest concern with the storms is flash and urban flooding, even in areas that need the rain. The strongest storms can also stir locally damaging wind gusts.

Thursday evening, communities south of Charleston, S.C., to Jacksonville, Fla., may bear the brunt of the strongest storms.
Localized flooding with downpours farther north across Georgia, including Atlanta, is possible.
The storm igniting the severe weather will move up the Southeast coast Thursday night, spreading a soaking rain across the eastern Carolinas and southeastern Virginia. Very high winds to the north of the storm may cause damage along the Atlantic Seaboard, from Long Island to Maine.

As this storm joins forces with another storm moving east from the Midwest, a blizzard will form across New England on Friday.