People voting in most Super Tuesday states were spared the worst of the bad weather meteorologists had forecast.
A low-pressure area gathered strength in the Plains on Tuesday morning, with cold winter-like air to the north and warm, moist air to the south. Like the clash of political parties, the two air masses colliding kicked storms through the Ohio River Valley and the Southeast. This brought heavy rain and strong winds, but the weather was not as severe as expected.
There was just one report of a tornado, some 15 miles from Birmingham, Alabama.
There were two reports of large hail — in Tennessee and Louisiana — and just seven reports of wind damage, mostly across Kentucky. Louisiana and Kentucky are not Super Tuesday states.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the Atlanta metro area until early Wednesday morning. The watch includes parts of northern and central Alabama.
The storm is forecast to push into New England on Tuesday night, but the wintry precipitation is expected to hold off until after the polls close in Bernie Sanders’ home state of Vermont and in Massachusetts.