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Severe Weather Threatens Millions from Midwest to New York this Week — with Some States Already Getting Tornadoes

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Parts of the Midwest and the Plains are once again in the bull’s-eye of an expansive severe weather threat that covers more than 130 million people from Texas to New York.

There’s an increased risk of tornadoes Tuesday spanning a corridor from eastern Iowa into southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, which is under a Level 3 out of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms, according to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC).

Strong EF-2 tornadoes are possible across a wider area Tuesday afternoon covering Chicago, Milwaukee and Des Moines, as well as parts of southern Michigan, including Detroit, which were added to the threat area Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, parts of the Southern Plains from Central Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City, to portions of North Texas including Wichita Falls, are also under a tornado and large hail risk where a dryline — the boundary between dry air from the west and warm, moist air from the Gulf — is forecast to set up Tuesday afternoon.

This all comes after severe storms on Monday dropped damaging tornadoes and hail across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas. (Read more from “Severe Weather Threatens Millions from Midwest to New York this Week — with Some States Already Getting Tornadoes” HERE)

Massive Snowstorm Expected to Impact Christmas Travel Nationwide

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Holiday travel and gift delivery could be severely disrupted by a winter storm expected to hit the center of the country from Wednesday to Sunday.

Residents of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region will contend with an incoming Arctic front causing heavy snowfall, according to a forecast from the National Weather Service. Blizzard conditions are expected to last from Thursday to Saturday, which marks Christmas Eve.

Snow is predicted to fall at a rate of one to two inches per hour at certain times, while winds could surpass 50 miles per hour, producing dangerous wind chills and low visibility. “The combination of heavy snow and strong wind gusts could lead to significant infrastructure impacts as well, including scattered tree damage and power outages,” the agency said.

The weather conditions could impact families’ holiday travel plans. Nearly 102 million Americans plan to drive to their holiday destinations, marking an increase of 2 million drivers since last year despite volatile gas prices, according to data from AAA. Meanwhile, as many as 54 million passengers will depart from airports between December 18 and January 3, constituting a 20% increase from last year, according to data from Hopper. (Read more from “Massive Snowstorm Expected to Impact Christmas Travel Nationwide” HERE)

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Tens of thousands of fish die in Midwest as drought, heat take their toll

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Photo credit: Cuyahoga jco

About 40,000 shovelnose sturgeon were killed in Iowa last week as water temperatures reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36.1 Celsius). Nebraska fishery officials said they’ve seen thousands of dead sturgeon, catfish, carp, and other species in the Lower Platte River, including the endangered pallid sturgeon. And biologists in Illinois said the hot weather has killed tens of thousands of large- and smallmouth bass and channel catfish and is threatening the population of the greater redhorse fish, a state-endangered species.

So many fish died in one Illinois lake that the carcasses clogged an intake screen near a power plant, lowering water levels to the point that the station had to shut down one of its generators.

“It’s something I’ve never seen in my career, and I’ve been here for more than 17 years,” said Mark Flammang, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “I think what we’re mainly dealing with here are the extremely low flows and this unparalleled heat.”

The fish are victims of one of the driest and warmest summers in history. The federal U.S. Drought Monitor shows nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states are experiencing some form of drought, and the Department of Agriculture has declared more than half of the nation’s counties — nearly 1,600 in 32 states — as natural disaster areas. More than 3,000 heat records were broken over the last month.

Iowa DNR officials said the sturgeon found dead in the Des Moines River were worth nearly $10 million, a high value based in part on their highly sought eggs, which are used for caviar. The fish are valued at more than $110 a pound.

Read more from this story HERE.