Winter’s grip has yet to be released as an erratic patchwork of severe weather swept across much of the U.S., dumping heavy snow and making roads impassable in the upper Midwest while strong, damaging winds battered the plains.
As parts of the south central braced for thunderstorms, forecasters said the storms will spread eastward and by Monday will threaten a large swath of the eastern U.S., with the mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C., most at risk for strong winds and tornadoes.
AccuWeather called the approaching weather a “triple-threat March megastorm” that will affect nearly 200 million people across the United States and warned that travel disruptions are likely as wind, snow, rain and cold components develop into a bomb cyclone and would rank among the most impactful weather events of the year in the United States so far.
“Severe weather in parts of the mid-Atlantic may be volatile on Monday if several atmospheric factors conspire together, potentially producing one of the most impactful and dangerous early-season severe weather events in this part of the country over the past decade,” said Jonathan Porter, AccuWeather chief meteorologist.
Among the dangers, Porter said, were damaging straight-line winds and some tornadoes, including the possibility of an especially intense tornado near the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas through Virginia and North Carolina.
Further north, from near New York City to southern New England, “flooding may be a concern through Monday night. Some locations could receive a brief, intense burst of rain that could provide 0.5 to 1 inch in less than an hour, resulting in flooding, especially in urban and poorly drained areas.”
The National Weather Service warned that a line of severe storms with damaging winds would cross much of the eastern United States late Monday. It was to begin Sunday afternoon and pass through the valleys of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Ohio.
The storm threat was expected to enter the Appalachians early Monday and then move toward the East Coast, where “severe thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds and several tornadoes” were expected during the day on Monday, the weather service said.
A stretch from parts of South Carolina to Maryland appeared most likely to experience the most 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 a higher, but much lower, risk extended north to New York and south to Florida, with thunderstorms possible in New England.
More than 20 inches (50 cm) of snow had fallen in some parts of southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin as of Sunday afternoon, according to National Weather Service reports, and more snow is likely to fall in places like Minneapolis amid blizzard warnings from the weather service.
More than 600 flights departing and arriving at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport were canceled Sunday, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions. Dozens more across Detroit were also ruled out.
An area from central Wisconsin to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is likely to see more than 2 feet (60 cm) of snow, with isolated higher totals on the peninsula, Roys said. Lower snow accumulations in places like Chicago and Milwaukee will likely continue to create problems for travelers on Monday, he added.
Aaron Haas, a snowplow driver in Wisconsin, said it was one of the worst storms he had seen in years. On Sunday, around the town of Marshfield, Haas was piling piles of snow as high as his truck.
“You can’t see anything when you’re on the roads outside the city,” he said.
Jim Allen, 45, who lives in the Upper Peninsula, said his family stocked up on supplies and he was ready to shovel and shovel snow several times Sunday.
“We’re basically prepared to hunker down for a few days if we have to,” Allen said.
According to PowerOutage.us, more than 210,000 utility customers in six Great Lakes states were without power as of Sunday afternoon. Some originated on Friday when gusts in the region reached 85 mph (135 km/h).
In Nebraska, about 30 National Guard members were deployed to help fight multiple wildfires across a wide swath of grasslands and rangelands, the state’s emergency management agency said.
As of Saturday, three of the largest wildfires had damaged more than 900 square miles (2,330 square kilometers), the agency said. One death related to the fire was reported Friday, and in a news release, Jim Pillen, the governor of Nebraska, urged residents to follow evacuation orders issued locally, adding that “the winds were supposed to be extraordinary” on Sunday.
The weather service issued a high wind warning Sunday for most of Nebraska, with wind gusts of up to 60 mph (97 km/h) possible amid the snow. Roys said the strong winds would affect a region stretching from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Great Lakes, and from Denver east to the Appalachian Mountains.
Associated Press contributed reporting
