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| Satellite view of epic storm in the Plains late yesterday afternoon. That white area on the right is a string of severe thunderstorms and tornados. Where it curves back to the ' left is blinding snow squalls. All of that brownish color in the middle and bottom are massive dust storms. |
Nope, they weren't facing a new Great Chicago fire. Residents there were sensing the sad aroma of Kansas burning. This was just one indication of how extreme and weird this storm was.
The storm did pretty much what it was expected to do, meaning it set records for temperatures, wind speeds both inside and outside thunderstorms, tornadoes and more.' And was completely off the rails.
The smoke people in Chicago, and other cities like Omaha and Des Moines smelled was from incredibly fast moving wildfires in Kansas and Oklahoma. All those cities also reported dust blown from Colorado and Kansas hundreds of miles into their communities.
The fires threatened towns and hamlets in both states. Parts of Guymon, Oklahoma were evacuated, as winds gusting to 79 mph pushed the flames. One house was destroyed by fire. In Russell and Ellsworth counties, Kansas, two fires merged to produce a fire front that was at one point 40 miles long.
NOAA' s Storm Prediction Center has 21 preliminary reports of tornadoes as of this morning. One of them was near Rochester, Minnesota, making that the first recorded December tornado in that state.
Winds gusts reaching 85 mph or more extended from Colorado to southern Minnesota, helping illustrate the huge area covered by the intense winds. The Washington Post said Wednesday brought the most number of reports of winds of 75 mph or higher in a single day since 2004.
Numerous homes lost roofs in Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado. A building collapsed in Kansas. The wind was strong enough to blow windows out of cars parked in Hampton, Nebraska. The control tower at Kansas City International Airport was evacuated for a time because winds were too strong for personnel to be safe there.
The police headquarters in Colorado Springs was among the buildings that lost roofs.
Dust storms reminiscent of the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s ripped through the Plains, too, closing Interstate highways, causing crashes and widespread air quality alerts.
The warmth ahead of the storm also broke some impressive records. In Des Moines, it got to 74 degrees, breaking the record for the warmest December day on record by five degrees. Madison, Wisconsin also had its hottest December day on record, reaching 68 degrees. Columbia Missouri, 76 degrees, Quincy, Illinois, 75 degrees and LaCrosse, Wisconsin, 69, degrees all also set new December records.
That weird, extreme storm is now heading into Canada, creating 34 foot waves on Lake Superior as a parting shot.
The weather is now settling down into something a little more normal. But there's still some trouble on the horizon. Western Kentucky, still trying to somehow recover from last week's horrific tornadoes, now faces a forecast of heavy rain and possible flooding tomorrow.
Here in Vermont, the outer edges of that immense Midwestern storm is still set to create some record high temperatures today. Gusty winds today and tonight might cause a few power outages here and there. A new storm is also now expected to give us a mid-sized snowstorm Saturday and Saturday night. More on that tomorrow.
Videos. If you're using a mobile device, click on the hyperlinks to view.
Fox Weather has some video clips of storm scenes. I'm impressed by the amount of lightning last night in Iowa:
The Washington Post also had some clips of the storms:
Tumbleweeds pile up in the strong winds in this Colorado neighborhood:
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