Severe storms pummel parts of US with snow and high winds and raise tornado threat

CHICAGO– Back-to-back bursts of snow and wind hit the eastern half of the United States on Monday as severe weather swept across much of the country, making roads impassable in the Upper Midwest and canceling more than 2,000 flights nationwide.

Forecasters said the mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C., were most at risk from strong winds and tornadoes. The cold front is expected to move off the East Coast by Tuesday, bringing significantly colder weather in its wake, forecasters said.

By Tuesday morning, subzero wind chills were expected to reach the Gulf Coast and the Florida Panhandle, with freeze warnings in effect across parts of the Southeast and parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas, forecasters warned. To the north, rain is expected to change to snow behind the cold front, with accumulations of more than 6 inches possible in the central Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia.

The late winter blast comes as Hawaii continues to be hit by a separate storm system that caused severe flooding over the weekend.

The National Weather Service warned that a series of severe storms with damaging winds would cross much of the eastern United States. After starting on Sunday, the storms moved through the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys. The storm threat was expected to enter the Appalachian Mountains and then move toward the East Coast, where “severe thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds and several tornadoes” were expected, the service said.

A portion of South Carolina up to Maryland appeared most likely to experience the most destructive winds Monday afternoon, the weather service said. This could include Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and the national capital.

Many schools in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia were closed Monday. North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein urged residents to turn on emergency alerts on their phones ahead of expected wind gusts of 74 mph (119 kph). In Maryland, many school systems planned to send students back early Monday.

Beyond the threat to lives and property, “whether it’s gusty winds from a squall line, a blizzard or snow, or just wind from the storm, several major airports will be impacted,” said Tyler Roys, AccuWeather senior meteorologist.

Blizzard conditions persisted Monday in parts of Wisconsin and Michigan, where the storm brought up to 24 inches of snow by morning. It was still snowing in the area. An additional foot (30 centimeters) to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of snow can be expected in upper Michigan, along with gusty winds, on Monday, the National Weather Service said. Schools were closed Monday in a number of communities in both states, including Milwaukee and Marquette, Michigan.

Lower snow accumulations in places like Chicago and Milwaukee are expected to create problems for commuters Monday, Roys said.

Jim Allen, 45, who lives in the Upper Peninsula, said his family had stocked up on essentials and was prepared to shovel snow several times Sunday with a shovel and snow blower.

“We’re basically prepared to hunker down for a few days if we need to,” Allen said.

The thousands of canceled flights nationwide early Monday included more than 350 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and another 200 at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight disruptions. More than 2,500 additional flights were delayed nationwide Monday morning. The disruptions came a day after more than 3,200 cancellations and 10,200 delays nationwide on Sunday.

More than 250,000 utility customers in six Great Lakes states were without power early Monday, according to PowerOutage.us. Some appeared Friday when gusts in the area reached 85 mph (137 km/h). Another half-million customers were in the dark, from Texas to Kentucky.

In Nebraska, about 30 National Guard members were deployed to fight multiple wildfires across a wide swath of pastures and prairies, state officials said. One fire-related death was reported.

Rain continued to fall Sunday in Hawaii, where acres of farmland and homes were flooded, roads were closed and shelters opened. Some areas of Maui received more than 20 inches of rain, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a social media post.

Maui County on Sunday lowered an evacuation advisory and said crews were pumping water from retention ponds to keep them at safe levels.

Resident and real estate broker Jesse Wald, who recorded video of a coastal road collapse Saturday, said other parts of the road were flooded by mud and sediment.

“In the 20 years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen this much rain,” he said.

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Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press writers Julie Walker in New York and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, also contributed to this report.