On Tuesday, a huge winter storm moved across the central U.S. It brought heavy winds, rain, and snow to most of the country. The storm killed two people in Mississippi, cut power to hundreds of thousands of people, and meant that Mardi Gras events in New Orleans had to be rescheduled.
Two people died in Mississippi because of the bad weather, Gov. Tate Reeves said on the social media site X. Two people died in Madison County, according to WAPT-TV. One died when a power line fell on them, and the other died when a tree fell on their car.
On Tuesday, the National Weather Service put out a tornado watch for parts of Mississippi and Louisiana until 9 p.m. CT. The watch included New Orleans, where tens of thousands of people were celebrating Mardi Gras outside. Before the bad weather, the police had already said that parade paths would be shorter.
The weather service said there was a possible tornado going 45 miles per hour northeast toward Pointe à la Hache, a town about 50 miles southeast of New Orleans. The weather service said that the worst of the bad weather in the area was “almost done” by 8 p.m. CT, as the line of storms slowly moved east off the coast of Louisiana.
In Irving, Texas, which is about 10 miles northwest of Dallas, there was also a brief tornado that the service reported. The tornado had peak wind speeds of 110 mph. There were no reports of accidents or deaths.
Because of the storm, dangerous weather advisories were in effect for tens of millions of people. In the South, there were warnings for tornadoes, thunderstorms, and fires. In the northern Plains, there were warnings for blizzards.
Early this morning, hurricane-force winds were seen in northeastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma. This caused red flag warnings to be sent out across the drought-stricken area. A lot of homes and businesses in Texas, including over 360,000, lost power because of the winds.
In the meantime, weather forecasters in Minnesota and Nebraska said that heavy snowfall could make it impossible to see and make travel “treacherous and potentially life-threatening.”
AccuWeather said that by midweek, the low-pressure system should have moved as far south as Florida and as far north as Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It will stop just short of New York City, but there may still be showers there. Up to 170 million people in more than 20 states could be affected by the storm.
Trees uprooted, buildings harmed, and power lines tangled
As the storm moved across the South, it brought hurricane-force winds that caused damage in several states.
The city of Ada in south-central Oklahoma was hit hard by strong winds and a confirmed tornado. Pictures showed that a downed tree had hit a mobile home and that broken objects were all over the streets. Due to “downed power lines, gas leaks, and trees everywhere,” the city told people on Facebook to stay home if they could.
Several local news sites in Lewisville, Texas, said that a warehouse fell down overnight. It was bad for traffic because the city said the roads were covered in wrecks and winds had broken out traffic lights. The cops in the nearby city of Irving said on X that there was “significant storm damage.”
Plano is just north of Dallas. KHOU reported that winds tore off part of a high school’s roof, and heavy rain flooded the school’s sports center. The NWS office in Fort Worth, Texas, said that dust storms would make it hard to see for about two miles in some places the rest of Tuesday.
The NWS office in El Paso, Texas, told people not to drive in these conditions on Tuesday, when a “plume of dust” from New Mexico was coming their way. A “haboob,” a big, fast-moving dust storm, made it very hard to see in parts of New Mexico and Texas the day before.
The sheriff’s office in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, said that weather-related damage happened to about five homes on Tuesday. There were no reports of damage right away.
There are about 60 miles between the parish and New Orleans. It is in the Baton Rouge urban area. Responders in the Baton Rouge area also said that trees had fallen in a number of parishes.
Damage was recorded to buildings, homes, and roads in Rapides Parish, which is in the central part of Louisiana. People were hurt, but the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office said they knew about the damage.
