Powerful thunderstorms are expected to sweep through the southern and central United States on Tuesday, bringing risks of tornadoes, flash floods, and blizzards. The National Weather Service has issued warnings for Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, where destructive winds and large hail are possible.
The storm system, described as 'unusually strong,' has been intensified by warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, partly due to human-caused global heating. It has already forced the cancellation of some Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, with further disruption anticipated across the South and Midwest through Wednesday.
A tornado watch is in effect for far east Texas, central and northern Louisiana, and southern Arkansas until Tuesday afternoon. Nearly 400,000 utility customers were without power on Tuesday morning, mostly in Texas and Oklahoma, according to Power Outage. A warehouse collapsed in Lewisville, Texas, after a likely tornado, burying nearby cars.
Meanwhile, blizzard conditions are likely across the central Plains, including parts of Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Minnesota, with heavy snow and strong winds creating near-zero visibility. In the southern High Plains, critical to extreme fire weather danger persists, with 176 fires reported in North Carolina covering over 3,300 acres.
The storm system is moving eastward, bringing rain and thunderstorms to the East Coast, with severe storms possible in the mid-Atlantic later this week. A new Pacific storm is forecast to hit California on Wednesday.
