US Weather: More hurricane-force winds were reported across the US in a single day than ever before

news7g12/16/2021

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US Weather: More hurricane-force winds were reported across the US in a single day than ever before

At least 55 reports of hurricane-force wind gusts above 75 mph were observed over the Great Plains and Midwest, based on National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center, setting a national single-day record. About 300 reports of severe wind were issued across regions during the day, with warnings affecting at least 80 million Americans.

According to NOAA data, a tornado in southeastern Minnesota was the first tornado ever reported in the state in December. Nearly 20 tornado reports were recorded across Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska as of this week. Wednesday.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and we’re seeing things today at the CNN Weather Center that we haven’t seen before,” said CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.

According to the NWS, several locations in Colorado – including the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs – have reported gusts of 100 mph or more. Winds of up to 107 mph in Lamar toppled pickup trucks, tore through domes and toppled trees, said Mayor Kirk Crespin.

According to spokesman Joe McBride, air traffic controllers momentarily evacuated at Kansas City International Airport due to “wind and the fact that it was a glass box 256 feet in the air.” Planes continue to depart About an hour after the controllers were forced to go to safety, the airport announced.

According to the Kansas Department of Transportation, parts of Interstate 70 in western Kansas were closed due to blowing dust, reduced visibility and accidents.

More than 400,000 customers were without power in affected areas as of early Thursday, according to poweroutage.us. Iowa and Kansas are reporting the highest number of outages.

The storm is forecast to subside, with many severe thunderstorm warnings and warnings lapsed overnight.

Wildfires in Texas and Kansas force evacuations

With the winds blowing at remarkable speed, Fire becomes a danger for residents in the southern Delta and Southwest regions.

The combination of 35 to 55 mph winds, with speeds of 75 mph, as well as humidity and the relatively low temperatures of the 70s and 80s were the catalysts for absurdly dangerous circumstances. Some areas are also facing The drought is happening.

“Dangerous, life-threatening fire weather conditions are likely to occur with rapid and uncontrolled spread due to extreme winds and dry conditions,” the Hurricane Forecast said Wednesday morning. It notes that this is first in TANDTC history that it forecasted a “extremely severe” fire threat in December in the Southern and Central Plains.

The town of Guymon, Oklahoma, had an evacuation order due to one of nine wildfires in western and northwestern Oklahoma, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

Several hundred people were told “to evacuate or prepare to evacuate” in the city of Iowa Park, Texas, in Wichita County in the northern part of the state. Two fires in the county are ongoing.

“The fire has changed direction a few times,” said Wichita County Sheriff’s Deputy Melvin Joyner, adding “we’re working as hard as we can to keep residents safe.”

A 2,500-acre fire is burning west of Amarillo and the agency is responding to the Wichita County fire, Texas A&M Forest Service reports.

Six homes and two other structures were damaged in the Texas Panhandle city of Pampa, according to a city notice. No injuries have been reported.

Severe weather hit Minnesota, with a tornado reported for the first time in the state in December.

Kentucky is still assessing the damage from last week

As hurricanes sweep through the central United States, Kentucky and other states still pick up the pieces from last week’s tornado outbreak.

The extent of damage for Friday night’s deadly tornado that tore through Mayfield and Dawson Springs in Kentucky has been upgraded to EF-4 intensity, with maximum sustained winds of 190 mph, based on surveys. Ongoing damage surveys from the National Weather Service.

Kentucky man raises money to buy toys for children affected by deadly tornado

The tornado had a maximum path width of one mile or more and was at least 128 miles above ground, tracking across the entire area of responsibility of the NWS Paducah office. The tornado took more than two hours to move through western Kentucky.

Tornado length is likely to increase as NWS offices near Paducah continue to survey in the coming days, and ratings may be increased and more damage surveyed.

President Joe Biden visit the area was attacked on Wednesday and said he was shocked by the amount of damage inflicted.

“The scope and scale of this destruction is almost beyond belief,” he said at Dawson Springs. “These tornadoes devoured everything in their path.”

Biden pledged federal funding for the recovery effort over the next 30 days, including “debris removal, overtime and law enforcement costs, emergency services and shelter personnel, and that will get you through.”

Kentucky’s confirmed death toll from tornadoes has been updated from 74 to 71 due to duplicate reporting, according to the Kentucky Emergency Management Agency. At least 14 others died in four other states.

CNN’s Dave Hennen, Robert Shackelford, Raja Razek, Joe Sutton, DJ Judd, Melissa Alonso, Amy Simonson and Amanda Watts contributed to this report.

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