Friday's forecast: Severe storms head East

The storm system that pounded the central U.S. on Thursday will slowly move toward the East Coast on Friday, while winter will hang on in the upper Midwest.

East: Severe thunderstorms are forecast to lash the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and much of the Southeast. Rain will fall throughout the day in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Florida will stay warm and sunny.

Upper Midwest: Snow, ice and temperatures near freezing will give a wintry feel to much of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

West: Most of the western half of the nation is forecast to be dry and pleasant, with the exception of showers along the Northwest coast and snow in the northern Rockies.

Weather history for April 4: In 1977, a tornado outbreak killed 22 people in Alabama. In 1989, the temperature rose to 100 degrees in Los Angeles.

In 1992, a winter storm dumped close to a foot of snow in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia.