Major weather threats bring blizzard conditions to U.S. northern tier, early heat wave to the West
Severe weather threats across the United States have millions of Americans on alert for blizzard conditions, potential tornadoes and record-breaking high temperatures in the coming days. Successive punches of snow and wind are set to impact the eastern half of the country on Monday, after weekend storms made roads impassable in the Upper Midwest.
The storm system that brought blizzards and life-threatening travel conditions to the Northern Plains and Upper Great Lakes on Sunday is moving east, threatening the region with potentially damaging winds and tornadoes. Forecasters said mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C., were at greatest risk for both of those.
The cold front was expected to move off the East Coast by Tuesday, bringing sharply colder weather in its wake, forecasters said.
The late winter blast comes as Hawaii continues to be affected by a separate storm system that caused severe flooding over the weekend, and as parts of the West experienced an unusually early heat wave that was expected to last through much of the week.
Blizzard slams Northern Plains, Upper Great Lakes
An intense storm produced blizzard conditions from eastern South Dakota through Wisconsin into Michigan's Upper Peninsula on Sunday.
Over 20 inches of snow fell in some portions of southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin as of Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Transportation officials warned of worsening conditions with low visibility and snow-covered roadways.
An area from central Wisconsin to Michigan's Upper Peninsula is likely to see over 2 feet of snow, with higher isolated totals on the peninsula, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tyler Roys told the Associated Press. Lower snow accumulations in places such as Chicago and Milwaukee will likely create trouble for commuters on Monday, he added.
More than 600 flights flying out of and into the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport were canceled, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions. Dozens more through Detroit were also scrapped, while O'Hare and Midway international airports in Chicago reported more than 850 cancellations.
State officials issued a no-travel advisory in southern Minnesota, and Gov. Tim Walz has authorized the Minnesota National Guard to support emergency operations, CBS Minnesota reported.
Wisconsin snowplow driver Aaron Haas said it was one of the worst storms he had seen in years. On Sunday, he was stacking piles of snow as high as his truck in the town of Marshfield.
"You can't see anything when you're on the highways outside of the city," he said.
Blizzard conditions are likely to stretch into Monday with additional lake-effect snow behind the storm.
Severe weather threat expanding east
The National Weather Service warned a line of severe storms with damaging winds would cross much of the Eastern U.S. After firing up Sunday, the storms are crossing the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys.
The storm threat is expected to enter the Appalachians, then move toward the East Coast, where "severe thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds and several tornadoes" are expected, the service said.
The threat is expected to intensify Monday, when storms could produce tornadoes, damaging wind gusts, hail and flash flooding as they push toward the East Coast, according to forecasters.
A stretch from parts of South Carolina to Maryland appeared most likely to experience particularly damaging winds Monday afternoon, the weather service said. That could include Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia and the nation's capital. The weather service said an increased — albeit much lower — risk stretched north to a portion of New York and south to northern Florida.
Officials said schools in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, would be closed on Monday. Gov. Josh Stein urged residents to enable emergency alerts on their phones ahead of expected wind gusts of 74 mph.
Early-season heat builds in the West
While the central and eastern U.S. brace for storms, the western U.S. is heading into an unusually early heat wave driven by a strengthening ridge of high pressure.
Beginning Monday and continuing through much of the week, record-high temperatures are possible across Southern California, the Desert Southwest and the Great Basin, forecasters said. Desert areas could see temperatures climbing into the 90s and 100s, while much of California and the interior West may experience highs in the 70s and 80s.
The warm, dry, and windy pattern is also expected to increase wildfire danger across parts of the West and High Plains.
In Nebraska, about 30 National Guard members were deployed over the weekend to help combat multiple wildfires across a broad swath of range and grassland, the state's Emergency Management Agency said.
As of Saturday, three of the largest wildfires had damaged well over 900 square miles, the agency said. One fire-related fatality was reported on Friday, and in a news release, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen urged residents to follow locally-issued evacuation orders, adding that winds were "supposed to be extraordinary" on Sunday.
Landslides, rescues, and collapsed homes on Maui
Acres of farmland and homes have been flooded in Hawaii. Roads have been closed, and shelters opened. PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide, reported over 30,000 electric customers in Hawaii without power as of Sunday evening.
Flash flooding has been a major problem in recent days in places like Maui, Molokai and the Big Island, where rain had been falling from 1 to 2 inches an hour overnight, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a social media post late Saturday that some areas of Maui had received 20 inches of rain in the previous 24 hours.
"We're seeing flooding, landslides, sinkholes, debris and downed power lines across the county," he said. Expressing gratitude in the Hawaiian language, the mayor added "mahalo for continuing to look out for one another."
Video footage in Bissen's post showed washed-out or collapsed roads, a car stuck by floodwaters and raging waterways. National Guard members and fire department workers made multiple floodwater rescues, Bissen said.