Severe weather storms forecast throughout South, Midwest
A sprawling storm system that crossed the U.S. on Friday overturned the peninsula’s half-highway on the highway and overturned the craziest wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma, with officials demanding at least one small town to evacuate. The tornado threatened Saturday, and the looming Mississippi River Valley entered late night and deep south.
The National Weather Service predicts that in a large United States, the population exceeds 100 million. High wind gusts up to 80 mph from the Canadian border to Texas are expected.
The storm system is expected to bring rain to California’s central coast on Friday, a massive storm system caused by a tornado in East Los Angeles that has caused flooding in the area.
The threat of severe storm will continue into the weekend, with a high possibility of tornadoes and hazardous winds Saturday in Mississippi and Alabama, forecasters said. Heavy rains could cause flooding to certain areas on the East Coast on Sunday.
Experts say it is not uncommon to see such extreme weather in March, with the storm system producing heavy snow and blizzards on the cold side, while the warm side has severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.
“What’s unique about it is its size and strength,” Bill Bunting of the Center for Meteorological Services Storm Prediction told the Associated Press. “So there is a real substantial impact in a big area.”
The tornado may be in a storm
The Storm Prediction Center said a fast-moving storm could create a tornado that would blow to the baseball size on Friday. However, the biggest threat will come from straight winds nearby or beyond hurricane forces, with some gusts likely reaching 100 mph (160 kph).
Forecasters say the most risky area is eastern Missouri Most of Illinois and parts of Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. From Madison, Wisconsin to Birmingham, Alabama, about 47 million people are facing threats of enhanced to moderately severe storms.
Forecasters are increasingly worried that strong thunderstorms in the south could pose a greater threat tornado.
National Meteorological Administration’s Storm Prediction Center release Level 5 risk, HighestFor severe storms in Gulf State on Saturday and Sunday, a tornado eruption across the central Gulf Coast states and deep into the south into the Tennessee Valley.
“We are worried about seeing a fierce, destructive tornado in the South tomorrow,” Bonting told the Associated Press.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency Friday, urging people across the state to stay alert overnight until the weekend.
Blizzard is expected in the northern plains
Forecasters warn that heavy snow whipping by strong winds could make travel dangerous in parts of the Rocky Mountains and northern plains. Blizzards may occur in Dakota and Minnesota.
A winter storm warning issued Thursday lingers in the mountains of Arizona and Utah on Friday morning, where snow is likely to fall. Forecasters warned of poor visibility and cold road conditions. Snowfall in northern Arizona closed some extensions of Interstate 40.
The winter explosion continued after the Sierra Nevada covered up to 3 feet of snow earlier this week.
Dry, gusts of wind bring “extreme” threat to wildfires
Warm, dry weather and sustained winds up to 45 mph bring the so-called “historic” conditions of the weather service to inspire wildfires on Friday to parts of the South Plains and southwest. Wind gusts over 80 mph (128 kph) are possible.
Forecaster also warned of an extreme Risk of fires in northern Texasmost of Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas. A wider area that designates the fire threat as part of the stretch from eastern New Mexico to Texas and north to southern Iowa.
The Weather Bureau said Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and parts of Arkansas have the potential for dry thunderstorms with the additional risk of lightning causing fires.
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe Announce Friday’s state of emergency, which is expected to hit the state’s severe weather, urges residents to “stay alert, monitor weather forecasts and follow official warnings.”
More than half of Texas’ 245 counties have burned the ban due to dangerous fire conditions. Lubbock posted a video on Lubbock Friday morning when X’s X whipped thick dust and one of the employees drove to work.
“This is probably the worst dust storm so far this year,” said Randall Hergert, leader forecaster for the Albuquerque Meteorological Bureau in New Mexico.
