March 5 (UPI) — A wide swath of the United States Wednesday was in the crosshairs of a massive storm bringing the risk of blizzards, wildfires, severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and heavy rain.
Millions of people in at least 20 states are affected.
Tens of millions of people were living in areas affected by the blizzard, tornado, thunderstorm and fire warnings from the South to the western northern plain regions.
As the major winter storm hit Tuesday two people died in the severe weather in Mississippi. Power went out for hundreds of thousands forcing New Orleans to reschedule Mardi Gras events.
“We’ve received reports of two fatalities as a result of today’s severe weather,” Gov, Tate Reeves confirmed on X.
One of the deaths was caused when a power line fell in Madison County. The second death happened when a tree fell on car on the Natchez Trace Parkway.
Specific conditions vary by region as the National Weather Service issued wildfire warnings in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Hurricane-force winds prompted red flag warnings in northeastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma knocking out power to 360,000 homes and businesses in Texas.
Tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, hail and heavy rain are expected from Louisiana, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida.
According to the NWS, 6-12 inches of snow is expected from Iowa into Michigan’s upper peninsula. Rain and warm conditions are forecast for the Midwest.
Minnesota and Nebraska were also expecting “treacherous and potentially life-threatening” heavy snow.
“Blizzard conditions are expected northwest of the low center from north of Kansas City to Iowa and up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, with several inches of snowfall combined with winds gusting 40-60 mph at times. This will lead to white-out conditions at times, thus causing hazardous driving conditions. Conditions should improve for those areas by Thursday morning as the core of heaviest snow moves out and winds gradually subside,” the NWS said in a statment.
According to the NWS, “Out across the Western U.S., the next storm system will be arriving across California Wednesday afternoon as an upper level trough moves in. This will lead to increasing showers across the state and heavy snowfall for the Sierra through Thursday night.”
The storm’s low-pressure system could extend to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but is not expected to reach New York City.
All told, the huge storm could impact as many as 170 million people across over 20 states, according to AccuWeather.
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