A sweeping mix of winter storms, severe wind and tornado threats, extreme heat and heavy rain put more than half the U.S. population in harm’s way Monday, disrupting travel, power and daily life across wide regions.
Air travel was hit hard. Nearly 13,000 flights were canceled or delayed across the country, and by Tuesday at 6 a.m. tracking service FlightAware still showed more than 2,100 flights affected. Long lines formed at security checkpoints as a partial government shutdown reduced Transportation Security Administration staffing. Many mid-Atlantic school districts sent students home early ahead of forecast high winds.
Power outages affected over a half-million homes and businesses, concentrated in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts, according to PowerOutage.com. In Hawaii, torrential rains caused flooding, landslides and washed-out roads; every island recorded areas with more than 15 inches of rain, and some parts of Maui received more than double that amount. Officials said there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths as crews evaluated damage, though more heavy rain was expected later in the week.
Forecasters said more than 200 million people faced some form of hazardous weather Monday, from heat and wildfire advisories to flood and freeze watches issued by the National Weather Service and private forecasters.
A potent storm system that dumped feet of snow across parts of the Midwest — producing whiteout conditions and blizzard warnings — pushed eastward, carrying heavy rain, strong winds and multiple tornado warnings toward the East Coast. The highest severe-weather risk stretched from New Jersey to Virginia, and New York City officials warned of gusts capable of bringing down tree limbs. In New York, a wind-driven fire in a three-story apartment building killed four people, including a child. The National Weather Service confirmed four tornadoes in Missouri the previous day that caused roof and tree damage but no reported injuries.
Blizzard conditions lingered in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes after the storm left several feet of snow in parts of Wisconsin and Michigan; the northern Wisconsin town of Mountain recorded nearly three feet since Saturday.
At the same time, a heat dome over the Southwest pushed temperatures into the triple digits far earlier than usual. Phoenix faced five consecutive days of 100-degree readings, a pattern meteorologists said was virtually unprecedented in recorded regional history; only once before, in 1988, had Phoenix reached 100 degrees in March. California saw summer-like warmth as the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento approached the 90s. Los Angeles officials noted the unseasonable warmth as another example of changing climate patterns, though local wildfire risk around the city remained relatively low because winds were expected to be light.
Dry, windy conditions were fueling the largest wildfire in Nebraska history, where three fires together had burned more than 1,140 square miles of mostly grassland. “Mother Nature is throwing a doozy at us,” said Nebraska’s governor as crews battled the blazes.
The eastward-moving storms were forecast to leave sharply colder air behind. Wind chills below freezing were expected to reach the Gulf Coast and the Florida Panhandle, and warnings were in effect across the Southeast and parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. Behind the cold front, rain was expected to change to snow, with the chance of heavy accumulation in the central Appalachians of West Virginia.
Officials urged residents in affected areas to stay informed about watches and warnings, prepare for travel delays and power outages, and take care during the abrupt swings from winter blizzards to early-season heat and wildfire threats.