The United States is getting slammed by a stretch of weather extremes, from flooding rain to record heat and late-season snow. On Wednesday, Washington, D.C., hit a record 86 degrees, then snow fell on Thursday. Meteorologists say the Southwest faces a heat dome with prolonged triple-digit temperatures. Polar cold will push into the Midwest and East. Two northern storms are likely to dump feet of snow, with one strengthening into a rare inland bomb cyclone. Hawaii is also dealing with an atmospheric river and flash flooding. Experts link the wild swings to a sharply dipping jet stream.
Tornadoes have killed at least two people in northwest Indiana and leveled buildings in Kankakee, Illinois. The Newton County Coroner's Office on Wednesday identified an elderly couple killed in their Lake Village, Indiana home as Edward and Arlene Kozlowski. A volunteer fire department says less than 10 people were injured in Tuesday's storms. In Illinois, the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office says a tornado caused extensive damage in the small suburb of Aroma Park, uprooting trees, shattering windows, tearing off roofs and smashing vehicles. Parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio remain under tornado watch Wednesday.
Powerful storms swept across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, spawning multiple tornadoes and causing widespread damage.
As the Iran war widens, experts say the Middle East’s real strategic weak point may be water — not oil. Much of the Gulf’s drinking supply comes from desalination plants clustered along vulnerable coastlines within easy range of Iranian missiles and drones. Many of the individual plants supply water to millions of people. Without them, major cities could not sustain their current populations. In recent days, desalination plants have been struck by both the U.S. and Iran. Oil spills, contamination and sabotage also could disrupt supplies of the fresh water that also sustains hotels, industry and some agriculture.
Officials say several tornadoes have torn through parts of Illinois and Indiana, downing trees and power lines in an area south of Chicago and overwhelming the 911 center with emergency calls. The Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office says a tornado struck down near the Kankakee fairgrounds before traveling northeast into Aroma Park, where it caused extensive damage. In video shared on social media, the twister is seen ripping across a field of farmland near an airport while cars lined the road. The National Weather Service says severe storms were threatening to bring intense tornadoes, damaging winds and very large hail from the southern Plains to the southern Great Lakes.
Powerful storms tore through parts of Michigan and Oklahoma, leaving a trail of destruction that included flattened homes and scattered debris…
Authorities in southern Michigan have searched through rubble and debris in the aftermath of suspected tornadoes that killed four people during powerful storms also blamed for two deaths in Oklahoma. First responders were in the Union Lake area Saturday looking for more possible victims and clearing debris. Authorities say three people were killed and 12 were injured during Friday's storms in the Union Lake area. The National Weather Service has confirmed a strong tornado there. Officials say suspected tornadoes also killed a 12-year-old boy in Cass County, Michigan, and two people in eastern Oklahoma. Tornado confirmation is pending in those areas.
Forecasters say the first major storm outbreak ahead of spring is threatening much of the central U.S. They warn strong tornadoes and other forms of severe weather are possible. The National Weather Service says scattered severe storms are expected to begin late Thursday in the Texas Panhandle, western Oklahoma and parts of Kansas. Forecasters expect the strongest storms to spread Friday across much of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. The national Storm Prediction Center says more than 6 million people face the highest risk Friday. Forecasters also expect very warm weekend temperatures in many areas, up to 30 degrees above average.
Power failures and waist-high canyons of snow bedeviled parts of the Northeast in the aftermath of a massive storm that dumped piles on streets and sidewalks from Maryland Maine, even as fresh snowfall coated the region. Across the Northeast, the fallout from the storm persisted: In Rhode Island, where 3 feet (0.9 meters) of snow surpassed the record set in the Blizzard of 1978, people confronted a third straight day stuck at home as residential streets remained unplowed, trash pickup got postponed in some places and some schools went virtual. In Massachusetts, particularly in Cape Cod where nearly 145,000 were without power, utility crews worked 18-hour shifts to restore electricity.
Millions across the northeastern United States contended with treks to school and work as they dug out from a major storm that blanketed the region with snow, canceled flights, disrupted transit and downed power lines. Snow moved north Tuesday giving way to sunshine in parts of the region, but National Weather Service forecasters warned another storm originating in the Great Lakes is right around the corner. In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared that more 900,000 students in the nation’s largest public school system had a regular day. Mamdani invited kids to pelt him with snowballs over his decision.