Keeping Up With U.S. Storms: So Far, Lots Of Damage, Relatively Few Injuries

While much of the nation struggled with rough, even 
dangerous weather on Tuesday, we were blessed in 
Vermont with a spectacular spring afternoon 

 So far, the wild weather in much of the United States is playing out as expected. Tuesday brought tornadoes, blizzards, high winds, wildfires and dust storms to vast swaths of the United States.  

Warnings and alerts from the National Weather Service and local meteorologists seem to be doing their job, as, knock on wood, there hasn't been that many injuries or deaths to report, which is a glimmer of hope, I suppose. 

That said, today is going to be the most dangerous day for tornadoes this week. Possibly the most dangerous day so far this spring. 

A huge swath from the southern Great Lakes all the way down to the Gulf Coast is under the gun for tornadoes, high winds and gigantic hail.  NOAA's Storm Prediction Center warns that some of today's tornadoes could be quite strong and long-lasting. This is especially true in a broad area of the Mississippi Valley from central Missouri and Illinois south to much of Louisiana. 

I've lost track of how many times this year the Gulf Coast states have been threatened and hit by severe weather and tornadoes. The National Weather Service office in Birmingham, Alabama last evening tweeted  this message:  "Dear Mother Nature. We're tired. An uneventful 2nd half of April would be much appreciated. Sincerely, All Southeast US NWS Offices."

Yesterday's tornadoes focused pretty much in spots where forecasters said there was the greatest chance of rough weather: Iowa and Texas.  Several large tornadoes formed in Iowa, but the mostly stayed in rural areas. There were reports of damage to farm and houses in small towns. 

In Texas, an even worse tornado injured 23 people and caused a lot of damage, especially in the town of Salado.  Hail up to the size of grapefruit accompanied the storm. 

A very large area of the nation, the areas in yellow, orange and
red are at risk for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms today.
Dark green means just a marginal risk of severe weather 

Snow/Blizzard

In North Dakota, residents are hunkered down for a second day of an epic blizzard that is still forecast to dump as much as three feet of snow on parts of the state.  It's already being described as the "storm of the century" up there. The only storm to rival this one in recent memory was in April, 1997.

Temperatures are remarkably low for this time of year in North Dakota, too. High temperatures today through Sunday are forecast to be in the 20s to low 30s. Normal highs there this time of year are in the low to mid 50s. 

So far at least, no deaths or serious injuries have been reported in the blizzard. 

Further west, Portland, Oregon by far set a record for the latest measurable snowfall on record. Remarkably, that record could fall today as more unseasonable snow is possibility.  

Wildfires/Dust

Wildfires broke out as expected in the southern Plains and Southwest yesterday.  The worst fire was in New Mexico, where a blaze destroyed several homes and forced thousands to evacuate. The risk of wildfires remains pretty high through the weekend in these areas. 

Vermont Update

Here in Vermont all that storminess in the nation is keeping us in an active, but not super dangerous weather regime.

A warm front will bring showers later today and tonight mostly to northern Vermont. A strong cold front is still expected tomorrow. There might even be a thunderstorm or two with this in the southern half of Vermont.   Some of the showers and storms might have some briefly heavy downpours with them. But they will be moving along pretty fast, so I don't see much of any kind of flood risk.

A slot of dry air moves in Friday, so we should have at least partly sunny skies. It will be quite windy, with gusts in the 30 to 40 mph range. Temperatures should manage to get into the low 60s, but that will be in the last mild day, probably for quite awhile.

Another sharp cold front will arrive Saturday with another batch of rain and much lower temperatures. It'll stay a little cooler than normal at least through Tuesday.