NOVEMBER 29, 2022
Colleen Somerville and her canine companion Cosmo play with an enormous stick at the Fish Lake Park Reserve dog park in Maple Grove, Minn., on Nov. 29, 2022.
A surly weather front threatened to drive severe thunderstorms and tornadoes across the south-central U.S. on Tuesday while what AccuWeather called an “atmospheric fire hose” was forecast to hammer the West.
The nation was bracing for a week of wild, dangerous weather, perhaps none more worrisome than the rare tornadoes capable of staying on the ground for long distances that could develop Tuesday in parts of the South. Tornado watches were in effect in large swaths of Louisiana and Mississippi, where the National Weather Services warned of “a particularly dangerous situation.”
“Parameters appear favorable for strong and long-tracked tornadoes this afternoon and early evening,” the weather Service said, emphasizing northeast Louisiana and central Mississippi.
The NWS office in Jackson, Mississippi, said storms capable of spawning tornadoes — and hail the size of tennis balls — would likely pass through the area until early Wednesday, when Alabama could get hit.
The long-track tornadoes could produce wind gusts of up to 165 mph. As a precaution, some Mississippi public school districts ended classes and activities early, and Mississippi State University in Starkville switched to online instruction.
The combination of storms forecasters are predicting could fuel major travel disruptions, such as the temporary closing of runways at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Tuesday afternoon because of snow and impaired visibility.
Forty million people from Indiana and Illinois down to Texas were at risk for severe thunderstorms and possibly tornadoes on Tuesday alone, Accuweather said. The National Weather Service warned that severe weather was likely Tuesday across a swath of the Mississippi Valley: Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
The weather service’s Indianapolis office warned on Twitter that “damaging winds will be the primary threat with lightning and isolated weak tornadoes also possible.” The Chicago office cited the “threat for isol’d gusts strong enough to down tree limbs.”
Wind gusts could reach 85 mph; outages could target 125M people
A storm triggering severe weather and possible tornadoes in parts of the South from Tuesday to Wednesday will bring a blast of high winds as colder air sweeps from the Midwest to the Northeast, AccuWeather meteorologists warned. High winds and heavy snow in some areas could trigger power outages and travel delays.
More than 125 million people from the Midwest to the Northeast could face wind gusts of up to 85 mph, AccuWeather said.
Pacific Coast braces for heavy snow, driving rains
Toward the West, a strong cold front accompanied by powerful winds and heavy snow was sweeping across portions of the Upper Midwest on Tuesday.
“Heavy snow will develop over the parts of the Mississippi Valley and Upper Great Lakes, which has prompted Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories over the region,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Paul Ziegenfelder said.
The Pacific Coast won’t be exempt from the wild weather. A burst of intense moisture known as an atmospheric river, or a plume of intense moisture, will take aim at part of the West Coast and move southward midweek, AccuWeather said. Seattle could see its first snow of the season, and an “intense” 8- to12-hour period of precipitation could bring dangerous conditions to western Washington from Tuesday night to Wednesday, forecasters said.
The storm will roll into Northern California on Wednesday into Thursday. Southern California could see excessive rains at week’s end, AccuWeather warned.
“While the rain and mountain snow will be beneficial from a drought standpoint, enough can fall to lead to travel delays and disruptions,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Haley Taylor said.
Courtesy/Source: This article originally appeared on USA TODAY
