Brewing storm system likely to snarl Thanksgiving travel

A series of storms are poised to strike a large portion of the U.S. this week — including the heavily populated Northeast, likely causing Thanksgiving holiday travel disruptions for some 54.4 million people.

The big picture: Severe weather on Monday sparked powerful thunderstorms from eastern Texas to the lower Mississippi Valley and reports of tornadoes, and a storm system was set to move from the southern Plains to the Northeast U.S. through Wednesday.

By the numbers: The National Weather Service received five reports of tornadoes as of early Tuesday after issuing tornado warnings for an area spanning from Louisiana to Mississippi.