Bad weather continued to ravage the United States on Monday, with nearly 250,000 utility customers waking up without power across the country from California to Michigan, while parts of Central America were reported overnight with tornadoes.
Tornado warnings were in effect for parts of Oklahoma early Monday morning, with multiple tornadoes reported across the state. National Weather Service in Norman Said At least one tornado was confirmed.
Thousands were without power amid the severe weather, with more than 36,000 utility customers outages as of Monday morning, according to online outage tracker PowerOutage.us.
According to the website, outages were reported for thousands of utility customers in the surrounding states of Texas and Missouri.
The National Weather Service warned that dry and windy surface conditions were expected to increase the risk of fire weather Monday across southeastern Colorado, the Oklahoma/Texas panhandles, eastern New Mexico and below Big Bend in Texas.
Snow, rain and possible tornadoes in parts of the US
As states in Central America grapple with the aftermath of severe weather, other parts of the country are facing snow, rain, strong winds and possible tornadoes this week.
“A deep mid-latitude cyclone will bring rain and thunderstorms to the Midwest Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic today,” the National Weather Service said Monday.
The weather service’s Storm Prediction Center has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of the Ohio Valley due to the risk of potentially damaging gusts “and a few tornadoes.”
Meanwhile, “a band of snow and ice is expected to spread across the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and Northeast today while a secondary low pressure system develops and surface waves slowly drift toward the East Coast,” it said. .
Several days without power in Michigan
In Michigan, thousands of residents have been without power for several days since a brutal snow storm hit last week. As of Monday morning, more than 130,000 utility customers were still without power, according to online outage tracker PowerOutage.us.
DTE Energy and Consumer Energy, the state’s two major utilities, have said they are working to restore power to homes across the state.
“Thanks to another day of all-hands on deck work, our more than 2000 line crew crews have restored power to the majority of customers whose power was down up to half an inch,” Consumer Energy said in a statement. do sunday.
California faces more snowfall
In California, which faced rare blizzard warnings last week, more than 46,000 utility customers were without power Monday morning, even as many across the state got some respite from severe weather Sunday.
The National Weather Service said on Monday that the state has experienced fresh rain and higher snow cover through Monday, however, heavy snowfall is expected in some areas this week.
“The mountains from southern Oregon to central California will see the greatest impacts, with occasional heavy snow rates in excess of 2 inches per hour and an additional 4-7 feet of snowfall along the Sierra Nevada,” the weather service said. “Combined with high winds, blizzard conditions and dangerous to impossible travel are expected.”
Those planning to travel by road through West Coast states at elevations above 1,000 feet were urged to “be prepared for rapidly changing conditions” and to have winter driving supplies.
“Heavy snow will make it east as far as the Colorado Rockies and south as far as northern Arizona where hazardous travel conditions are expected Tuesday and Wednesday,” the weather service said.
