Kathryn Prociv

Firefighters in New Jersey made progress Wednesday containing a massive wildfire that broke out Tuesday and prompted the evacuations of 5,000 people, snarled traffic and sent huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky.

The National Weather Service’s reduction in weather balloon launches left forecasters on shaky ground last week as the central U.S. got hammered with hail and tornadoes, outside meteorologists told NBC News.

Five million people are at risk of storms Thursday across eastern Nebraska, northern Missouri, most of Iowa and southern Minnesota, with hazards including very large hail up to 2 inches in diameter, damaging winds and possible tornadoes.

Frigid temperatures gripped much of the United States on Tuesday as 55 million people in parts of the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Southeast remain under frost and freeze alerts.

Heavy rain will drench the Northeast on Monday as several states are reeling from last week's powerful spring storms that unleashed major flooding and killed at least 24 people.

A 9-year-old Kentucky boy was swept away by floodwaters and died Friday, officials said, as that state and others faced what forecasters warned could be a catastrophic flooding event from a stalled storm.

One person was killed and 10 others were injured, one critically, as tornadoes and severe weather struck the Midwest and mid-South Wednesday, destroying buildings, toppling semis and train cars, and tearing down trees, officials said.

A day after parts of the Midwest and the South were bombarded with severe thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes, another round of storms — and life-threatening flash flooding — has been forecast for the region.

More than 8 million people are under red flag warnings Wednesday, as firefighters continue to fight wildfires in the Carolinas.

Crews in the Carolinas continue to battle major wildfires that have scorched thousands of acres, forced evacuations and destroyed homes.

Spring is off to a furious start for several parts of the country after a blizzard dumped over a foot of snow and tornadoes raced through neighborhoods in the Midwest as the same storm system moves east to drench the East Coast.