Winter storm systems maul US
Winds rake Plains; Calif. braces for more snow
OKLAHOMA CITY – Parts of the southern Plains counted the injured and surveyed the damage Monday after tornadoes and other powerful winds swept through, while some Michigan residents faced a fifth consecutive day without power following last week’s ice storm.
In California, the National Weather Service said a series of winter storm systems will continue moving into the state through Wednesday after residents got a brief break from severe weather Sunday.
Parts of the Northeast that have seen little snow this winter were under a winter storm warning. And forecasters warned of continued high winds in parts of the Plains and of thunderstorms and possible tornadoes in the Ohio Valley.
A look at the weather threats around the country:
Tornado cleanup, forecast
Police in Norman, Oklahoma, responded Sunday night to storm damage in parts of the city, about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City. Officials said there were 12 confirmed weather-related injuries there, none considered critical.
Crews canvassed the damaged area looking for others who might be injured. Possible tornadoes and wind gusts as high as 90 mph were reported in Oklahoma, with downed trees and power lines, road closures, and damage to homes and businesses around Norman, Shawnee and Cheyenne. Classes were canceled Monday at two damaged elementary schools, said Norman Police Chief Kevin Foster.
Nolan Meister, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said a wind gust of 114 mph was recorded in Texas, with gusts between 70 and 90 mph in central Oklahoma.
“It hit real hard in about 20 minutes, and it was gone,” said Cindy Woodard,
city secretary in the Texas Panhandle city of Memphis, about 90 miles southeast of Amarillo, where the 114 mph gust was recorded.
There were broken windows, toppled trees and blown-over carports but no reports of injuries, Woodard said.
More than 76,000 customers lost power in Oklahoma at the height of the storm Sunday night, although most had it restored by Monday morning, Oklahoma’s Office of Emergency Management reported.
A tornado touched down Sunday near Liberal, Kansas, the weather service said, and more than a dozen homes were reported damaged, according to KSNW-TV. One person had minor injuries, the station said.
There were reports of nine tornadoes in Kansas, Oklahoma and northwestern Texas, said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster for the weather service. Weather service teams planned to survey storm damage Monday to determine the strength of the tornadoes.
The severe weather threat remained Monday, with thunderstorms expected to produce damaging gusts across the Ohio Valley, according to the Storm Prediction Center. At least a few tornadoes were possible, especially across Ohio on
Monday afternoon, the center said. The weather service forecast strong winds Monday in Kansas and Missouri, with gusts topping 60 mph.
California blizzard warning
Blizzard warnings began going into effect Monday in the Sierra Nevada range as more rounds of rain and snow entered California from the north and moved south.
The new series of storms arrived even as parts of the state were still digging out from last week’s powerful storm, which added to a massive snowpack left by a siege of “atmospheric rivers” in December and January.
In the Sierra, Yosemite National Park announced it would be closed until midweek, and numerous roads were closed in Sequoia National Park. Trans-sierra highways were subject to closures and chain requirements.
East of Los Angeles, all roads leading up to San Bernardino Mountain resort communities around Big Bear Lake remained closed because of last week’s huge snowfall. In the San Gabriel Mountains, roads remained closed to the Mountain High resort, where the storm dumped 73⁄4 feet of snow.
Suburban Santa Clarita, in hills north of Los Angeles, received its first significant snowfall since 1989.
Northeast snowstorm
While not expecting a blockbuster storm by regional standards, southern New England braced for what could be the most significant snowfall of what has so far been a mild winter.
A winter storm warning covered parts of the Northeast, including Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island, with heavy snow forecast for Monday evening through Tuesday afternoon.
Boston had the possibility of getting 5 inches and a messy Tuesday morning commute, according to the weather service. As much as 10 inches could fall in western Massachusetts, northwest Connecticut and southern Vermont.
Michigan ice storm
In Michigan, crews continued to work to restore electricity. Leah Thomas, whose home north of Detroit lost power Wednesday night, finally got her power back late Sunday afternoon.
With her husband traveling out of town, Thomas said she feels lucky that she and their 17-year-old son were able to stay at her parents’ nearby home, which still had power, while they are in Florida.
Although her basement didn’t flood during the outage, Thomas said Monday morning that she lost all the food in her refrigerator, including about $200 worth of prepared meals she had in her freezer. She said she would have moved her food to her parents’ freezer but did not because DTE Energy had repeatedly notified her that her home’s power would be back on soon.
Instead, it took nearly four days for the power to be restored.
“We did lose all our food because we didn’t realize the outage was going to be so long,” Thomas said.
In Michigan, parts of which were still reeling from the ice storm and high winds, more than 144,000 customers remained without power early Monday, according to Poweroutage.us.