mckinney, texas.— A strong gust of rain, wind and snow that carved a destructive path through California pushed east Tuesday into the Midwestern and southern states, threatening to bring heavy rain and snow to much of the central United States. and threatening parts of the South with tornadoes, forecasters said.
The so-called “multi-hazard storm” was expected to bring freezing rain and snow to much of the country, from the central and northern Plains to the western Great Lakes, while also bringing thunderstorms, tornadoes and periods of hail to parts of the country. . from the south.
Severe weather could disrupt travel as many people return from New Year’s holidays and cause widespread power outages.
The storms formed from the same “atmospheric river” system that inundated California over the weekend, bringing record rainfall and flooding to the Bay Area, before dumping more than four feet of snow on Utah and nearly a foot. of snow in parts of Arizona. California was still reeling from the disaster left over New Year’s weekend, even as forecasters warned that another, possibly larger storm was expected to hit the northern part of the state again on Wednesday.
About 35 million people could be affected by severe storms through Tuesday, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations for the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. Heavy rains in the south could also cause flash flooding.
People in risk areas should “make sure you have your severe weather plan in place,” Bunting said, “which includes having multiple ways to receive warnings and also having an identified safe area at home, work or other places to search Shelter, a severe storm is coming.”
The highest snowfall totals could exceed 12 feet in the northernmost parts of the Midwest, including Minnesota, according to an online forecast from the National Weather Service, and snowfall this Tuesday morning could reach a rate of one at three inches per hour. Freezing rain and ice buildup could cause treacherous driving conditions and power outages in Minnesota, the Weather Service said.
Rapid snowfall was also likely in other parts of the Northern Plains, particularly Nebraska and South Dakota, forecasters said. This will be accompanied by wind gusts of approximately 50 kilometers per hour, resulting in “blowing and shifting snow” that is expected to create a “difficult to impossible drive,” the Weather Service said.
The system is expected to produce a mix of snow, rain and freezing rain in northern New England tomorrow, Wednesday, forecasters said.
