Severe weather threat fires up again today: 25M at risk for tornadoes in central US
Show Caption Hide Caption Severe weather threat for the Plains and Midwest A growing severe weather threat for the Plains and Midwest regions of the United States is causing concern for hail and tornadoes.
Strong storms were forecast to pummel the Plains and Midwest on Tuesday as a severe weather pattern threatened to keep a large chunk of the nation in its grip through much of this week.
More than 25 million people from Nebraska to Michigan live in the path of a powerful storm system and face a “probable” threat of tornadoes as well as heavy rain, hail and damaging winds, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center.
“We’re concerned about damaging winds and tornadoes. No weather event is the same, but this does have the same kind of earmarks as the severe weather threat back on April 26. There were more than 100 tornadoes reported that day,” AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.
The storm system is expected to reach peak intensity – with the formation of supercells, the most powerful thunderstorm type – in the afternoon and early evening as it reaches the Missouri and Mississippi valleys as well as the Lake Michigan area.
The storms were eyeing some large cities on Tuesday, including Des Moines and Cedar Rapids in Iowa; St. Joseph and Kansas City in Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Omaha, Nebraska.
Throughout the morning, the National Weather Service issued tornado and severe thunderstorm advisories for counties in central Iowa and eastern Nebraska. More than 12,000 homes and businesses were without power in Nebraska, according to a USA TODAY outage tracker.
The latest wave of storms across the central U.S. over the weekend and early this week have spun up twisters and dropped damaging hail up to 2.5-inches in diameter. On Monday, possible tornadoes were reported in Colorado and Nebraska, though damage appeared to be limited. A day earlier, at least four people were injured in Oklahoma and dozens of buildings were damaged in storms that swept the Plains region.
Central US faces more severe weather this week
By Wednesday morning, the center of the system will head into southern Canada. However, a trailing cold front will “become nearly stationary across the southern Plains where the next phase of severe weather and excessive rainfall is forecast to emerge,” the weather service warned, adding that the weather threats, including thunderstorms, will expand into the mid-Mississippi Valley on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, persistent storms capable of unleashing hail and “a couple of tornadoes” could lash Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and parts of Texas, the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center said. Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms will be possible across the central Plains into South Dakota and across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast coastal areas.
It’s already been a rough spring for tornadoes: There have been more than 830 preliminary reports of tornadoes so far this year, well above the historical average of 626 tornadoes at this time of year, AccuWeather said.
Storm-related death toll rises to 8 in Houston
An eighth person has died following a series of storms that tore through the Houston area on Thursday, leaving widespread damage in its wake, including mass power outages amid an intense heat wave.
Officials discovered the body of a man they believe died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning, multiple outlets reported, citing the Houston Fire Department.
Samuel Peña, the fire chief, took to X on Monday, calling carbon monoxide poisoning a “silent killer.” He said his department has responded to 80 poisoning-related calls since last Thursday, including one in which four children were hospitalized because of a running generator, he said.
As authorities have been rushing to get the power back on across the city, many schools remain closed because of outages and damage. Officials also have warned against traveling because of debris from smashed windows downtown and damaged traffic lights.
Meanwhile, temperatures have risen sharply. Through Friday, the afternoon heat index, or feels like temperature, is forecast to reach triple digits, prompting a warning from weather and local authorities, according to the National Weather Service.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 145,000 utility customers still had no power, according to a USA TODAY outage tracker. That is down from over 946,000 customers without service in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi on Friday.
US weather watches and warnings
National weather radar
Contributing: Reuters
Source: eu.usatoday.com
