A line of severe thunderstorms is moving into the New York City metro area from the west, and should start to threaten the city itself around 6:00PM. The storms are capable of producing damaging straight-line winds in excess of 60 MPH, as well as torrential rainfall and "continuous cloud-to-ground lightning."

Even if you don't experience severe winds, lightning itself is extremely dangerous. The lightning-tracker network Blitzortung is showing a ton of lightning with this storm (pictured above at 5:13PM), and it's important to remember that this only manages to catch about 10% of the total number of lightning strikes that actually occur.

The heavy rainfall will bring with it the risk for flash flooding. If you encounter any flooded roadways, please don't drive through them. No matter how badass you think you are, you can't judge the depth and even a little bit of water can leave you stranded and put your life (and those of your rescuers) at risk.

You can keep up with the latest forecasts and warnings from the National Weather Service office in Upton, New York, which covers the city itself.

[Images via Gibson Ridge and LightningMaps.org]

UPDATE: