WASHINGTON: Brutal winter weather blanketed much of the United States on Tuesday, with forecasters predicting heavy rains in the east and several feet of snow in portions of the Pacific Northwest. According to officials and local media accounts, high winds and a couple tornadoes swept over sections of the South earlier Tuesday, causing at least three deaths in Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia. Tornadoes wreaked havoc in sections of Florida’s panhandle. The National Weather Service (NWS) reported heavy rains and high winds slammed a large portion of the East Coast on Tuesday and will continue into Wednesday. Three or more inches of rain were anticipated for a large section of the northeast, where some locations had heavy snowfall last weekend, raising the possibility of catastrophic flooding Last year, the United States had a record amount of “billion-dollar” calamities. On Tuesday, storms knocked out electricity to nearly 418,000 homes and businesses across 12 states. Snow will fall again on Wednesday in the Midwest and Great Lakes region, which had blizzard conditions on Monday and Tuesday. The snow is falling on the storm’s northern and western borders, according to the National Weather Service. Up to 8 inches of snow and strong winds were forecast.
Also read: Two migrants found dead, 18 rescued off Greek island – coastguard
“This snow will cling to trees and power lines, which when combined with gusty winds potentially exceeding 55 mph, could result in power outages,” the National Weather Service (NWS) warned. Forecasters predict that as the storm system moves out of the Midwest and East Coast, conditions will progressively improve. A separate storm system in the Pacific Northwest is causing blizzard conditions that will last into Wednesday, dumping several feet of snow at higher elevations in the Cascade mountains of Washington and Oregon, according to the NWS. By Thursday, the storm system will have roared across the Rockies and into the central plains.
