AccuWeather.com is wrapping up live coverage of the severe weather and enormous blizzard that have hammered the central United States this week. Thank you for staying up to date with the storm on AccuWeather.com. For additional coverage, you can stream AccuWeather NOW anytime on our website. Stay up to date on the latest weather in your area by downloading the AccuWeather mobile app and visiting AccuWeather.com.
Click here for a complete recap of the severe weather and tornadoes that hit the central U.S.
Storm chaser Christopher Riske was close to a thunderstorm about 90 miles northwest of Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday afternoon when he captured an incredibly close lightning strike. Riske was just feet away from a car that was in the process of turning around when lightning struck and disabled the vehicle. Everyone in the car was reported safe. Watch the video below:
After days of severe thunderstorms across the central United States, the severe weather threat will shift east on Thursday. Areas from the Florida Panhandle to southern New England could experience locally damaging storms, with the highest risk focusing on the mid-Atlantic. “There will be sufficiently warm and humid air in place in the East and the timing for thunderstorms will coincide with the peak of daytime heating during the afternoon and early evening hours on Thursday,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek said. Thursday’s storms are not predicted to be as intense as the thunderstorms in recent days but could still spark flash flooding and strong winds.
Blizzard conditions started in North Dakota on Tuesday and have continued into Thursday across portions of the state. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Bismarck, North Dakota, shared a video on Twitter of the snow blowing outside its office. Winds were gusting up to 52 mph in the video and visibility was poor. Minot, North Dakota, which is about 100 miles north of Bismarck, recorded 30 inches of snow early Thursday morning, which is the highest snowfall total in the state. The highest three-hour wind gust was also recorded in Minot, at 63 mph. The Minot airport reported heavy snow and 1/4 mile visibility along with the peak wind gust. Norwich, North Dakota, which is just 10 miles east of Minot, measured 28 inches of snow and just up the road from Minot, 26 inches of snow was measured in Burlington, North Dakota.
Jefferson County Public Schools in Kentucky are closed on Thursday because of blocked roadway and power outages in the wake of Wednesday night's storms. This includes Kentucky's largest metro area of Louisville. Due to power outages, a spokesperson for the school district said it will not be an online learning day since many students have no internet access without electricity.
In the wake of widespread thunderstorms with damaging winds on Wednesday, many people are without electricity early this morning. According to PowerOutage.US, Mississippi, Louisiana and Kentucky all have over 20,000 customers without power. Mississippi leads the way with over 43,000 customers in the dark. Louisiana has just over 30,000 and Kentucky with more than 27,000 reported outages. A much quieter day is expected in those areas today, which will afford power crews the opportunity to get electricity restored.
Besides hail, damaging winds and tornadoes, this week's severe thunderstorms also contained heavy rain. Some locations dealt with training thunderstorms, a pattern in which multiple storms move over the same locations in the same way that a train moves along a track, hence the term training. This resulted in towns in multiple states receiving over 5 inches of rain during the past 36 hours.
Strong winds associated with a thunderstorm caused significant damage in the town of Eutaw in west-central Alabama, to the southwest of Tuscaloosa. The storm damaged structures and vehicles and brought down power lines. In addition, one person was trapped under a damaged residence. That person was freed and escaped with no major injuries. Thunderstorms will continue to progress eastward across Alabama for the next several hours.
The first death of the severe outbreak was confirmed on Wednesday night by emergency officials out of Rison, Arkansas. According to the Cleveland County Office of Emergency Management, a 20-year-old woman in Rison was killed after a tree crashed onto their mobile home shortly before 5 p.m., local time. According to KAIT, emergency crews found the woman pinned under the tree but were unable to rescue her. As of Wednesday evening, no other injuries or deaths have been reported.
FedEx warned on Wednesday that its Express deliveries are being delayed due to the severe storm impacting the central part of the nation. The delivery service said it experienced “substantial disruptions” at its hub in Memphis Tuesday night.
FedEx officials said the storm has been causing hazardous driving conditions for its hundreds of delivery workers who are out on the road. They said “contingency plans” are in place, but reminded customers that delayed packages are not eligible for refunds or credits due to bad weather.
In the hours since Louisville, Kentucky, was slammed by severe weather and a possible tornado, photos and videos of the damaged city have emerged on social media. Roofs throughout the city have been completely removed from homes while dozens of trees lay strewn over roadways.
As of 10:30 p.m., local time, over 56,000 customers are without electricity in the state, according to poweroutage.us. Images of snapped utility poles and drooping power lines have also circulated.
Elsewhere in the state, footage of fallen trees was shared in Lexington, Kentucky, including one that fell on a home. No injuries have been reported yet.
Residents of Montana have been dealing with intense snowfall this week, as well as the region’s furry companions. At Hollenbeck Ranch in Molt, Montana, a herd of sheep encountered a brutal snowdrift built up by strong winds and heavy snowfall in the area. Molt, located in the southern region of the state, is on pace to accumulate up to 18 inches of snow from Monday evening through Wednesday evening. Wind gusts around 30 mph added to the peril experienced by the sheep herd.
“(A) major concern was wind,” Hollenbeck Ranch’s Sara Hollenbeck said. "Our sheep are built for snow, but if they get buried, nothing can survive unless we physically shovel them out, which thank God we didn’t have to … all sheep are alive and accounted for.” Current conditions have improved at the ranch, Hollenbeck said, with no blizzard in sight as of Wednesday afternoon.
Sheep managed to find higher ground from being buried by a snowdrift on April 12 in Molt, Montana. These sheep are built for snow but not for wind. All sheep are alive and accounted for.
Kentucky’s largest metro area has been hit by a confirmed tornado. The twister touched down in the Louisville area shortly after 8:32 p.m. EDT, the National Weather Service said. Local emergency management officials reported the tornado was spotted on Interstate 64 in the suburb of Simpsonville, Kentucky. The twister also sparked multiple fire incidents throughout the area, and wind gusts of 72 mph were reported. As of 9 p.m. EDT, nearly 22,000 households in the Louisville area were reported without power.
The event was captured by Rob Yates, taking video of the haunting scene from his home in Mount Washington:
The National Weather Service had just issued a tornado warning for the Jackson, Mississippi, area Wednesday night when Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer spotted a twister taking shape just southwest of the city.
Timmer picked up on some rotation in the sky while traveling around 6:45 p.m. CDT, echoed by a report of a possible tornado via radar along Interstate 20 in Jackson. The storm stopped just north of Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport, providing an ominous scene for Mississippi air travelers. Another view of the storm was captured downtown by a local news anchor.
A number of tornado watches have been issued for several states in the South as a potent April storm moves slowly east.
The heavy snowfall that fell in Montana and North Dakota this week has resulted in some astonishing statistics. Highest reported snowfall totals in North Dakota measured up to 22 inches on Wednesday, per National Weather Service storm spotters, with the nearly 2 feet of snow hitting both Grassy Butte, North Dakota, and Red Lodge, Montana. An estimated 22 inches also befell Surrey, North Dakota.
Snowdrift totals were also staggering, with a report of 5- to 6-foot drifts seen in Minot, North Dakota. Drifts of 4 to 5 feet were also seen in Hebron, North Dakota, while the most populated city in Montana - Billings - took in drifts of up to 30 inches.
More than 110,000 power customers in states slammed by severe weather have lost electricity as of Wednesday night. During the late afternoon hours, the states of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee combined for around 110,000 outages, according to PowerOutage.us. Louisiana leads those states with nearly 39,000 outages, mainly concentrated in the northern part of the state. At the same time, Texas outages totaled more than 27,000; Tennessee around 19,000; Mississippi, 13,000; and Arkansas was seeing around 11,000.
Several major metropolitan areas have been placed under tornado watches through the evening hours, per the National Weather Service. In Tennessee, both Nashville and Memphis metro areas fall under the tornado watches until 10 p.m. CDT and 9 p.m. CDT, respectively. Other areas under the tornado watch include Jackson, Mississippi (through 10 p.m. CDT) and Louisville, Kentucky (through 11 p.m. EDT).
A tornado that destroyed homes in Bell County, Texas, on Tuesday left locals stunned. The Bell County tornado has been given a preliminary rating of EF3 strength, with peak winds of 165 mph. The tornado was on the ground for at least 13 miles, taking a turn to the north that avoided highway I-35. As of Wednesday afternoon, 23 injuries were blamed on the twister.“
"It was just a loud hum that was constant,” local resident Ruth Parker told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell. “We were out on the front porch with golf ball-sized hail, it was crazy. I was getting the storm closet ready.”
Snow drifts on a farm just outside of Hannaford, North Dakota, were estimated to be about 11 feet high, according to Justin Campbell, who runs a soybean and wheat farm in the area.
One North Dakota resident received an unwelcome visitor on his farm this week, courtesy of the severe storms ravaging the northern United States. Justin Campbell, a farmer from Hannaford, North Dakota, snapped a photo Wednesday morning of his pole shed covered halfway with snowdrift, with Campbell estimating that the snowdrift was 11 feet high. The city, located in eastern North Dakota with a population of 118 residents, has accumulated snowfall of 8.6 inches over the past 24 hours. Wind gusts reaching near 30 mph blew the snow across Campbell’s farm, astonishing the local.
“I can never remember a storm like this in April,” Campbell commented. “There was no snow in the yard yesterday morning, now there is a drift that’s halfway up our 20-foot pole shed … luckily, we never lost power last night.”
Official blizzard conditions arrived in two North Dakota cities Wednesday. In Williston, North Dakota, and Tioga, North Dakota, the two cities are facing high winds, heavy snow and low visibility, all factors necessary for triggering a blizzard definition by the NWS. A wind speed of 40 mph was reported in Williston as of 2:06 p.m. CDT, per NWS airport observations, as well as visibility of only a quarter mile. In Tioga, wind speeds were clocked at 39 mph as of 2:35 p.m. CDT, with visibility also down to a quarter mile.
Blizzard warnings remain in effect until 7 p.m. CDT, Thursday for most portions of North Dakota. Meanwhile, the warning for eastern Montana was to expire at 10 p.m. MDT as the storm surged east. To be called a blizzard, a storm must have winds of at least 35 mph, and visibility of a quarter mile or less for a period of three hours.
The severe weather impacting several states, from Texas to Minnesota to blizzard conditions in the northern Plains, is responsible for a 117-degree range in AccuWeather RealFeel® temperatures across the central U.S.
At 2 p.m. CT, the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature was 12 below zero F in Tioga, North Dakota (in the northwest corner of the state) -- a stark contrast to the 105 F AccuWeather RealFeel® recorded in Zapata, Texas, on the Mexico border. This slow-moving spring storm will continue reflecting a wide range of temperatures through the evening hours.
Another tornado watch has been issued, this time for an expanded area that includes parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee, even Memphis, according to the National Weather Service. The watch, which affects nearly 2.8 million people, remains in effect until 9 p.m. CDT.
Multiple tornado warnings were being issued Wednesday afternoon for parts of Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas. Lime-size hail, wind gusts of up to 75 mph and flooding are possible. A tornado threat also exists for sections of Louisiana over the next three hours, according to the NWS Storm Prediction Center.
In early March, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Paul Pastelok warned that “April looks like a very active month.” And so far, that long-range forecast is holding up. March featured a record-setting number of tornadoes with more than 250 preliminary reports, more than three times higher than the monthly average of 80. That trend has continued right through the start of April. Typically, April brings around 155 tornadoes across the U.S., and AccuWeather predicted that 200 to 275 twisters would occur. Nearly halfway through April and in the midst of a severe weather outbreak, the Storm Prediction Center has tabulated 113 preliminary tornado reports. This is already more than all of April last year when just 73 tornadoes were recorded. Tornado activity is predicted to throttle back in May but could target new regions, such as the Midwest and Northeast.
Temperatures in many areas throughout the Rockies fell lower on Wednesday morning than they ever had on this date, including in one area that saw a drastic 50-degree F temperature drop in just 24 hours. A weather station in Yellowstone National Park in Montana recorded the lowest temperature in the region, as a Wednesday low of 15 degrees below zero set a new daily record. A record for the date was also set in Denver, where the thermometers reached 11 degrees F.
Elsewhere in Colorado, the Colorado Plains Regional Airport in Akron went from a temperature of 57 degrees F on Tuesday morning all the way down to 7 degrees F on Monday morning, a 50-degree swing in a little less than 24 hours. Low temperature records were also broken in 11 areas in Montana on Monday, including in Chinook, which saw a 113-year-old daily record fall with a low of 21 degrees F.
Wednesday is shaping up to be another busy day of severe weather and extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer is prepared to chase some of the most potent storms. Timmer reported from the Memphis, Tennessee, area shortly after 12 p.m. local time. Timmer called the atmospheric setup for Wednesday “one of the more extreme, volatile events that we’ve seen so far this year for long-tracked, potentially strong to violent tornado potential.” Timmer went on to say that Wednesday was shaping up as “one of the most dangerous days we’ve had here in a few years across the mid-South.”
Hear more from Timmer in the video below:
AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures could plunge as far as 20 degrees below zero in the wake of the monstrous winter storm that was pounding the north-central U.S. this week. Strong winds with gusts that could reach up to an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 60 mph will follow the snowstorm and will reach as far to the south and east as the central Plains, Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley. The core of the deep freeze will converge along the adjacent corners of four states -- Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas -- Thursday into Friday. Surrounding that area, a portion of those same states is likely to see AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures tumble below zero, and farther away from that epicenter, places like Denver to the south and Grand Forks, North Dakota, to the north and east will see RealFeel® temps in the single digits. Grand Forks will be lucky to see the RealFeel® temperature rise to 10 degrees on both Thursday and Friday, and the cold will not let up much throughout the weekend with the RealFeel® remaining below 20 F through Sunday.
The same system responsible for the damaging storms and tornadoes across the southern U.S. has unleashed record-setting snow across the northern Plains. On Tuesday, Billings, Montana, measured 13.9 inches of snow, making it one of the snowiest days in decades. The last time this much snow accumulated in one calendar day in the city was May 11, 1981, when 15 inches piled up during an unusual May snowstorm. Going deeper into the record books, the last time this much snow fell on an April day was 67 years ago, when the biggest single-day snowfall in city history occurred. On April 4, 1955, forecasters measured a whopping 23.7 inches, the highest single-day snowfall total since reliable records began in 1933.
A new round of severe thunderstorms is beginning to develop with the National Weather Service issuing a tornado watch for portions of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. This new watch includes areas that experienced a round of damaging storms late Tuesday into Tuesday night. The tornado watch is in effect until 5 p.m. CDT Wednesday, but additional watches will likely be issued as more thunderstorms ignite.
On the latest episode of AccuWeather’s Weather Insider podcast, AccuWeather Chief Broadcast Meteorologist Bernie Rayno and AccuWeather Broadcast Meteorologist Jessica Pash recap some of Tuesday’s storm reports before discussing where the greatest threat for severe weather will be on Wednesday. There will be tornadoes on Wednesday, and “the only question is how many,” Rayno stated. “The threat is there,” he added. Rayno and Pash also recap some of the snow reports in the northern Plains where incredible amounts of snow and blizzard-like conditions have been reported. Give the latest episode a listen below.
Residents in Texas and Louisiana are waking up in the dark following a round of severe weather Tuesday afternoon into Tuesday night. Louisiana is reporting over 65,000 outages across the northern part of the state, according to PowerOutage.US. Nearly 48,000 are still without power in Texas, with most outages concentrated in a zone southeast of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Meanwhile to the north, power outages are minimal across Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, with fewer than 1,000 outages in each state despite the ongoing blizzard. More widespread outages are possible into Wednesday night from Louisiana through Indiana as the risk of damaging storms and tornadoes expands eastward.
School districts from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest are planning early dismissals or canceling classes altogether on Wednesday due to the heightened risk for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Some of the school districts that have elected to deviate from their regular routines include schools in Mississippi, which have faced multiple rounds of severe weather this spring, and schools around St. Louis. On Tuesday, schools in St. Louis participated in a conference call with the National Weather Service (NWS) to review storm safety procedures, according to St. Louis-based FOX 2. “Practice those tornado drills. Practice what you would do in a high-end severe thunderstorm. We’re hopeful that school took that to heart,” Warning Coordination Meteorologist for NWS St. Louis said.
For the second day in a row, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has issued a “moderate risk” for severe thunderstorms across a swath of the Mississippi Valley. On a scale from one to five, with five being the highest risk for storms, the moderate risk is a level four. The area that could experience the worst of Wednesday’s severe weather stretches from far northeastern Louisiana to southern Indiana. However, severe weather will be possible anywhere from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes. Major cities that could experience severe thunderstorms or tornadoes include Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis and New Orleans.
A snapshot of the weather radar over the northern Plains and southern Canadian Prairies early Wednesday morning.
Near-blizzard conditions continue to unfold over portions of the north-central U.S. and the southern Canadian Prairies. The worst weather in North Dakota is currently over the central part of the state, including Bismarck, where visibility remains limited due to blowing snow. Heavy, blowing snow has recently arrived in Winnipeg, Manitoba, paired with gusty winds. This could cause significant travel issues ahead of the Wednesday morning commute in the city.
According to PowerOutage.US, just over 50,000 customers are without power in Texas as of 5 a.m. CDT, Wednesday morning. This is down from over 100,000 customers late on Tuesday evening. In fact, Louisiana is currently reporting more power outages than Texas, with over 63,000 customers in the dark. Farther to the north, over 10,000 outages are being reported in Minnesota.
The dynamic storm that has brought severe weather and a blizzard across the middle of the nation delivered spring and winter to South Dakota on Tuesday. At one point on Tuesday afternoon, temperatures were in the 70s Fahrenheit with tornado warnings being issued in the southeastern part of the state. Meanwhile, the northwestern part of South Dakota was in the midst of a blizzard with temperatures in the 20s F. Thunderstorms will not be a concern on Wednesday, but snow and strong winds will continue in northern and especially northwestern South Dakota.
At 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Omaha, Nebraska, was sitting at a summerlike 91 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, just one state away, Spearfish, South Dakota, was at just 19 degrees with snow falling. The 91 degrees in Omaha was a new record for the date, easily surpassing the previous record high of 86 degrees set over a century ago in 1916. AccuWeather meteorologists say that the temperature in Omaha will be more than 40 degrees lower on Wednesday afternoon, with a high of just 50 degrees. Meanwhile, the blizzard will continue in North Dakota, eastern Montana and northwestern South Dakota.
A tornado earlier this evening in Bell County, Texas, caused damage. A church in the town of Salado was destroyed. This tornado was on the ground for approximately seven miles. In addition, 23 people were injured, according to the Bell County judge. Of those injured, 12 were taken to the hospital with one person in critical condition.
Storm chasers captured this incredible video in Gilmore City, Iowa, Tuesday evening as severe storms slammed Iowa and surrounding states. In the video, a tornado is seen ripping the roof off of a building, sending it crashing across a roadway.
According to PowerOutage.US, more than 100,000 customers were without power at 10 p.m. CDT in northeast Texas after severe storms swept through the area. According to National Weather Service spotter reports, trees were reported down on roads over a wide area. The roof of a house was blown off in Mount Enterprise, while windows were blown out of the Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas.
AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reported live on the AccuWeather Network from Salado, Texas on Tuesday evening, where police said cars were tossed around and homes sustained serious damage during a likely tornado. Local roads are closed. So far, everyone in the town is accounted for and only minor injuries have been reported.
A 5.5-inch-diameter hailstone was found in Salado, Texas on the afternoon of April 12, 2022. (Twitter/@pgbrown92)
In addition to tornadoes, another dangerous weather event hit Texas Tuesday evening in the form of gigantic hail. Hailstones that measured up to 5.5 inches pelted Salado, Texas, located north of Austin, at roughly 6 p.m. CDT Tuesday. Local resident Gina Brown compared the massive hail to a human hand, as well as to a lemon, which the hail dwarfed in size.
The NWS hail reporting standards only cover hail up to 4.5 inches in diameter, called "grapefruit-sized." Hail this size is very rare, but the record diameter for Texas hailstone was 6.4 inches in April 2021. Other large hailstones were reported Tuesday afternoon in Arkansas (4.5 inches in New Blaine) and South Dakota (2.75 inches in Clayton).
This week's blizzard is dropping feet of snow in the northern Rockies. Albro Lake, Montana, located in the mountains of southwestern Montana, measured 47 inches of snow and 36 inches of snow was reported nearby at Pony, Montana, according to local news station KXLH. As much as 14 inches of snow had fallen so far at Fessenden, North Dakota, where it was still snowing as of 8 p.m. CDT.
Conditions have forced several major road closures, including a stretch of I-94 that serves as a border between Montana and North Dakota. The Department of Transportation for both states closed I-94 from Billings, Montana, through Jamestown, North Dakota, a freeway stretch of 513 miles. Another major road closure is I-29 from Fargo, North Dakota, to the Canadian border.
The severe weather outbreak hitting the central United States resulted in a confirmed tornado in Iowa Tuesday evening. At approximately 6:20 p.m. CDT, a tornado was on the ground west of Gilmore City, Iowa, tearing through local farmland. The tornado was shown live on the AccuWeather Network via journalist Tony Laubach, broadcasting from nearby Pocahontas, Iowa. As of 7:01 p.m. CDT, several Iowa counties were under tornado warnings, while the northwest quadrant of the state remains under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. CDT.
Roughly an hour later, a tornado touched down east of Humboldt, Iowa, 13 miles south of Gilmore City, according to law enforcement.
West of Waco, Texas, AccuWeather multimedia journalist Bill Wadell captured a lightning strike hitting a tree as he drove by at 5:18 p.m. CDT. The strike, captured on his dashcam and GoPro, was a sudden blast to the tree, creating a violent visual of the Texas severe storm.
Several potential tornadoes were reported Tuesday across Texas during the late afternoon hours, including a dangerous situation on a central highway.
At 5:55 p.m. CDT, the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, Texas, reported a life-threatening situation approaching Highway I-35 outside of Killeen, Texas, in the central region of the state. The NWS told residents to seek shelter immediately. An hour prior, a radar-indicated tornado was reported north of Killeen. The area's storms produced another tornado roughly 10 minutes later southwest of Waco, Texas.
A hook echo is present on the AccuWeather radar southeast of Killeen Texas near Salado at 6:00 p.m. CDT April 12, 2022.
Severe weather watches in Texas have expanded northward, now with tornado watches added to the mix. After an earlier report of severe thunderstorm watches in south-central Texas, the National Weather Service issued alerts for tornado watches from the southern end of the Dallas metro area, down to the state capital of Austin. The tornado watches, which run until 11 p.m. CDT, also include the cities of Waco, Corsicana, Killeen and Palestine. More severe thunderstorm watches have been issued as well in the state until 9 p.m. CDT, west of the tornado watch zone in spots like Abilene, Texas, and Brownwood, Texas.
While this snowstorm poses a threat to the calves, Rancher Whitney Klasna says that her ranch in Richland County, Montana, “desperately” needs the moisture from the storm. In messages to AccuWeather over Twitter, she says that the area has been on the Drought Monitor map since May 2020, and it’s been designated as a D3-D4 drought since the spring of 2021. The D3 and D4 rating on the U.S. Drought Monitor represent extreme and exceptional drought conditions, respectively, with impacts that range from culling cattle and selling early to widespread pasture loss. However, it will still be dangerous to some of her cattle as the ranch is in the middle of calving season.
“Prep for a storm like this starts long before the storm,” Klasna said. “We make sure our cows are in good health and condition going into calving. We always make sure to have infrastructure in place to mitigate impacts by these spring storms.” She added that the ranch relies heavily on the National Weather Service and other weather services for forecasts on cold temperatures, storms and, especially, wind directions and speed to help prepare windbreak and know where to best shelter the herd to ride out any adverse weather. The biggest concern Klasna has, however, is over electricity.
“We are very concerned that the power will go out, especially since our power supply comes from areas in North Dakota that are forecasted to have the deepest snow and weather impact," Klasna said.
Just before noon local time, 10 inches of snow had already piled up in Billings, Montana. The accumulation was enough to shatter a snowfall record -- and it was still coming down. The 10 inches was more than enough to surpass the previous daily snowfall record for April 12, a mark of 5.8 inches set on this date back in 1991. Not only was the daily snowfall record broken, but the winterlike storm also unloaded more snowfall on an April day in Billings than any other April day since 1955, according to the NWS. By the time the snow stops falling, AccuWeather forecasters predict, Billings could measure as much as 18 inches from this storm.
The AccuWeather Wintercast outlook for snow accumulation in Billings, Montana.
Frigid conditions have left Montana's most populated city in a deep freeze on Tuesday. Billings, Montana, with a population of over 100,000, has experienced AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures below 0 F since 3 a.m. MDT. The feel of zero-degree temperatures accompanied blowing snow, courtesy of wind gusts up to 23 mph. A 24-hour precipitation report shows that the city was hit with 0.34 inches of snow.
The lowest temperature in Billings took place at 10:47 a.m. MDT, when RealFeel temperatures fell to -13 F. As of 1:38 p.m. MDT, the RealFeel temperature sits at -7 F.
The North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) issued a No Travel Advisory for the southwestern and central regions of the state on Tuesday morning as snow began to pile up. Other roadways in the southern portion of the state that fell outside of the advisory were labeled as snow-covered, and continuous ice was also reported on I-94 east and westbound lanes near Bismarck. The North Dakota Highway Patrol tweeted Tuesday that weather and travel conditions were "quickly deteriorating" across the state as of 11 a.m., CDT. The NDDOT expects difficult roadway travel to last through Thursday.
As severe weather slams the central United States this week, the state of Texas continues to be in the crosshairs. The National Weather Service has issued severe thunderstorm watches for parts of central Texas, lasting through 9 p.m. CDT. Over 20 counties are part of the watch, including Erath County and Taylor County, which are home to Stephenville, Texas, and Abilene, Texas, respectively. The two cities have a combined population of nearly 150,000 residents. Weather conducive for fires is also a concern, as the western portion of the state is currently under a red flag warning until 9 p.m. CDT, indicating an increased risk of fire danger. Much of southern and central Texas, including the state capital of Austin, will be under a fire weather watch Wednesday, from 10 a.m. CDT through 8 p.m. CDT.
Severe thunderstorm watches (yellow) have been issued for parts of Texas in addition to red flag warnings (red) for a high risk of wildfire development.
The first night of the severe weather’s impacts on the south-central United States featured baseball-sized hail in Arkansas on Monday night. Photos of the massive hailstones emerged on Twitter on Monday night in the city of Charleston, Arkansas, located in the northwest portion of the state.
According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, golf ball-sized hailstones fell in the area near Lake Conway, Cato and Mayflower, contributing to the swath of power outages on Monday night in the state. The National Weather Service reported that the largest hail in the state was measured at 4.5 inches in Logan County, roughly the size of a grapefruit.
A blizzard closed schools, colleges and some government offices in North Dakota on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a blizzard warning for the majority of western and central North Dakota. AccuWeather meteorologists are forecasting 2 feet of snow across much of the state with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 40 inches through Wednesday. Radar imagery on Tuesday afternoon showed snow falling across much of southern North Dakota, with the heaviest of the snow falling just south of Bismarck. Schools sent students home with laptops in preparation of several snowbound days. Bismarck and Mandan public schools were among those that were closed on Tuesday.
A screenshot of the weather radar around midday Tuesday shows heavy snow (blue) and rain (green and yellow) across the northern Plains.
The same storm bringing feet of snow and blizzard conditions to parts of the Rockies and northern Plains and severe thunderstorms to parts of the Midwest is also bringing an extremely dangerous wildfire threat to parts of the Southwest and southern High Plains. The Storm Prediction Center has identified a large area of extreme fire conditions that extends from Midland, Texas, up through Garden City, Kansas. In this area, conditions are ripe for dangerous wildfires as dry conditions and strong winds threaten to turn a small blaze into a raging firestorm. Large and fast-moving wildfires are possible throughout the day, and residents should avoid starting fires anywhere the fire risk is elevated.
President Joe Biden plans to visit Menlo, Iowa, on Tuesday ahead of stormy weather. His trip to Menlo, a town located about 45 miles west of Des Moines, will be to discuss his economic agenda and the actions he is taking to lower costs for working families, according to the Des Moines Register, citing information from the White House. He will also touch on the investments in rural Iowa provided through the infrastructure law signed late last year. Details have not yet been shared on where Biden will speak or whether the event will be open to the public. However, severe weather is expected to hit the Midwest into Tuesday night, with AccuWeather forecasters saying that the greatest risk of multiple strong tornadoes may be centered on Iowa.
Snow continues to fall across parts of Montana late Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service in Billings, Montana, measured 8 inches of snow outside the office. Snowfall rates are currently 2 to 3 inches an hour. Just west of Billings, in Pony, Montana, 30 inches of snow was reported as of late Tuesday morning. More snow is expected to fall throughout Tuesday, which will add to the current totals.
A historic blizzard is starting to unfold over North Dakota and eastern Montana that could go down as one of the most significant snowstorms since 1966. AccuWeather meteorologists say that snowdrifts could reach up to 20 feet tall. The drifts could bury cars at this height and make it impossible to leave a building from the ground floor. Ranchers are also concerned that the extreme snow could be deadly for livestock, particularly newborn cattle. “Unfortunately, there will be some calves across the region that won’t make it through the storm but hopefully it’s not a huge loss,” Katelyn Dynneson-Larson, a rancher in eastern Montana, told AccuWeather in an interview. “We’ve definitely seen that in the past with other spring storms.”
A satellite view of the massive storm system over the central U.S. on April 12, 2022. (NOAA/GOES-EAST)
As blizzard conditions start to unfold across the Upper Plains, frigid weather and bitterly cold winds are going to make conditions even more miserable. In Bismarck, North Dakota, where a blizzard warning has been issued and 1 to 2 feet of snowfall are expected, the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature has already fallen to 2 degrees F and is expected to dip below zero tonight. The shockingly cold temperatures show how quick the weather can turn -- the high temperature in Bismarck on Saturday was 64 degrees and the last time the high temperature didn't reach at least 50 there was on April 3. Similarly, chilly conditions are expected in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature, at its lowest, is expected to sink below zero there on Wednesday.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has upgraded its outlook for Tuesday’s severe weather to a “moderate” level for parts of Iowa. Out of the five severe weather outlooks the SPC issues, the moderate risk is a level four, which means long-lived severe storms are likely within the newly defined area. Damaging winds, flooding downpours, very large hail and several tornadoes are expected late Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night in parts of northern and west central Iowa. More than 579,000 people are located within the moderate risk area. Residents should have a plan in place for when storms arrive and have their phones charged in the event that the storm creates widespread power outages.
Folks from Fargo through Bismarck, North Dakota, are waking up to snow with more on the way in the coming days. Between 1 and 2 feet of accumulation is likely across a large section of North Dakota with even higher snow drifts due to strong winds. AccuWeather is predicting between 12 and 18 inches of snow in Grand Forks, North Dakota, with the possibility of around 24 inches by Friday morning.
Advances in radar technology have helped make it easier for meteorologists to identify tornadoes based on just the images on their computer screens. Dual-polarization radar makes it possible for meteorologists to peer into storms on radar using a product called correlation coefficient (CC) and identify if storms are lofting debris up into the air. Meteorologists also use traditional radar tools like reflectivity, which can be used to identify hook echoes that often hold tornadoes, and rotation, which can identify a couplet of winds moving toward and away from the radar. On velocity radar, this often appears as a red area directly next to a green area.
AccuWeather meteorologists are forecasting more severe weather to explode from southern Minnesota to the coasts of Texas and Louisiana on Tuesday after several tornadoes touched down across Arkansas on Monday. Tuesday's storms are yet again expected to feature flash flooding, very large hail, intense downpours damaging wind gusts and tornadoes, with the highest risk for severe weather present in two spots through Tuesday night: one from Kansas City, Missouri, to southeastern Minnesota and the other from Dallas to Oklahoma and Arkansas.
"People living in or traveling through the region should closely monitor forecasts and stay alert for the latest severe weather watches, warnings and advisories," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
After severe storms produced tornadoes across Arkansas and dropped large hail from Oklahoma to Missouri and Mississippi on Monday night, they began to lose intensity during the early hours of Tuesday morning. Residents are warned not to let down their guard yet though, as more severe weather is on the way through Tuesday night for those in eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas and western Mississippi.
Storms on Tuesday can produce tornadoes, very large hail, flash flooding and damaging wind gusts, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 80 mph.
This radar image, captured early Tuesday morning, shows thunderstorms across the Tennessee Valley. (AccuWeather)
AccuWeather Meteorologists are keeping a close eye on potent thunderstorms prowling across the Plains early Tuesday morning before sunrise.
"All the ingredients have come together to produce very dangerous severe weather from southern Oklahoma through northern Arkansas," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Thomas Geiger.
Grapefruit-sized hail has been reported across this area along with a few tornadoes, and a tornado watch was in effect for parts of eastern Oklahoma and most of Arkansas early Tuesday morning.
"The severe weather is expected to trek into western Tennessee on Tuesday morning where it will eventually meet a less favorable environment for severe weather," explained Geiger.
This severe weather has already caused at least one university in the area to cancel Tuesday's classes due to power outages and flooding.
This radar image, captured late Monday night, shows strong to severe storms traversing the Mississippi Valley. (AccuWeather)
As of Monday at 10 p.m. local time, there were five tornado reports across Arkansas as homes were found damaged. Residents took shelter in laundry rooms and basements across Jacksonville as tornado sirens also sounded in Cabot. Over 3,000 were without power on Monday night, according to PowerOutage.US, primarily across Faulkner County, though tornado reports also came in from Sebastian, Logan and Pulaski counties.
Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer captured this video showing the rotation as a tornado started to form in Charleston, Arkansas.
Arkansas has officially been added to the list of states hit by this week’s severe weather, as the state has been slammed with several confirmed tornadoes. One of these resulted in a tornado emergency issued for the Little Rock metro area at 8:12 p.m. EDT, putting over 200,000 residents in the destructive path.
At approximately 5:18 p.m. EDT, a tornado was viewed just east of Bloomer, Arkansas, creating an incredible sight for local residents. The storms then moved eastward through Charleston, Arkansas, seen on radar at 5:20 p.m. EDT. About an hour later, a tornado was reported in Scranton, Arkansas, about 40 miles east of the initial tornado in Bloomer. Besides the tornado, hail was also seen in the Scranton area during the late afternoon hours. Hail storms appearing in Fort Smith, Arkansas, came as a shock to one local:
While it seems strange to put blizzard conditions and April in the same sentence, the combination of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and temperatures still low enough to produce snow across parts of the Great Plains make April a meaningful month for snowfall in the heartland. The most recent big snowfall was in 2019, when more than 2 feet of snowfall was reported in parts of South Dakota. However, some historic snowstorms blow 2019 out of the water. All the way back in 1921, 98 inches of snow was reported over the course of three days in Silver Lake, Colorado. Even late April can be very fruitful for snowfall. In 1984, about 73 inches of snow piled up in Red Lodge, Montana, over the course of three days leading up to April 27.
The most expansive severe thunderstorm event thus far in 2022 is predicted to unfold this week, hitting areas that have already experienced rounds of damaging weather this spring, as well as areas that have avoided the recent spate of outbreaks. Storms on Monday afternoon will be centered on a small area around Arkansas and could continue into Monday night.
On Tuesday afternoon, storms will erupt from Texas through Iowa, with the worst of the storms expected to occur around Dallas and Kansas City. The severe weather will become even more widespread on Wednesday to include areas farther north such as Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Madison, Wisconsin. All modes of severe weather are possible through Wednesday with tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind gusts up to 80 mph.
With blizzard conditions ongoing across parts of the northern Plains, farmers and ranchers have hopefully taken precautions to protect their livestock, as snowstorms can cause significant trouble for animals too. In 2015, more than 35,000 dairy cows were killed in a blizzard that impacted parts of Texas and New Mexico, causing snowdrifts up to 14 feet tall that buried some of the cattle, with some going hungry in the storm, according to reporting from The New York Times. In 1972, more than 100,000 cattle were killed in a North Dakota blizzard, more than one-tenth of the state's herd. Colorado State University gives cattle herders numerous tips for preparing for severe cold and snow, including but not limited to moving animals indoors but not overcrowding them, having an abundant feed in safe and warm locations and ensuring water is free of ice.
The system that will spark severe thunderstorms and blizzard conditions across the central U.S. this week has moved onshore over the Pacific Northwest. Over 60,000 power outages were reported in Washington and Oregon early Monday morning as the system spread rain, snow and wind across the region. Portland, Oregon, was one city that received measurable snow, the first time that at least 0.1 of an inch of snow accumulated in the city during April. However, it is not the latest snowfall in the city’s history. On May 8, 1953, 0.5 of an inch of snow accumulated in the city.
A satellite image of the storm system churning over the Pacific Northwest before daybreak on Monday, April 11, 2022. (NOAA/GOES-WEST)
With an intense April snowstorm set to bear down on parts of the Great Plains, blizzard warnings have been issued for a large chunk of western North Dakota, eastern Montana and northwestern South Dakota. Among the cities and towns covered by the active warnings is Bismarck, North Dakota, where AccuWeather forecasters are predicting a prolonged snowfall, with 1 to 2 feet of snow expected by the time the storm wraps up on Thursday.
A blizzard is defined as a storm that brings sustained winds of 35 mph or greater and visibility less than one-quarter of a mile for three consecutive hours. The intense winds needed to verify blizzard conditions can create white-outs, making all kinds of travel hazardous.
