Over 20MILLION people from the West Coast to Plains are under red weather warnings with unseasonal spring storms bringing tornadoes, snow and hail – as forecasters warn geomagnetic storm and solar flares will interfere with radios today
More than 20 million people from California to the Midwest will face “severe” snowstorms and thunderstorms, while tornadoes will hit southern states.
Winter weather warnings are in force over large parts of the country, split into warm and cold parts of a severe storm that will cause power outages and make travel ‘almost impossible’.
The cold part of the storm, in the northern and central states, will bring heavy snow, blizzards and freezing rain.
In the warm part of the weather system, in the southern states, the National Weather Service has warned that “tornadoes and damaging winds are possible through this evening.”
It comes as space weather forecasters have issued a geomagnetic storm warning through Monday predicting a solar flare could disrupt radio broadcasts on Earth.
Minnesota is expected to see a dangerous combination of two inches of snow per hour and wind gusts up to 60 mph
The National Weather Service warned Monday that a “strong storm system will impact the Northern/Central Plains into the upper Midwest through Tuesday.”
They said that “snow and gusty winds will continue from the Central Plains to northern Minnesota, along with some sleet and freezing rain in parts of the Upper Mississippi Valley.”
Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota are all expected to see deep snow, with the service warning: “Heavy snow and wind gusts near 50 mph will produce blizzard conditions with near zero visibility through early Tuesday.
“Travel could be nearly impossible.”
They added: ‘Power outages and damage to trees are likely in some areas due to the heavy and wet snow combined with icing and high winds.’
Minnesota and Colorado are expected to see a dangerous combination of two inches of snow per hour and wind gusts up to 60 mph.
Meanwhile, there is a risk of tornadoes and damaging winds and an increased risk of severe thunderstorms tonight from parts of East Texas through the Lower Mississippi Valley.
Tornadoes have already struck parts of Texas, with one touching down south of Perryton on Sunday.
Video footage showed the tornado forming quickly and gathering rain clouds into a thick band before spinning over a field.
There were six reports of a tornado in Oklahoma on Sunday, according to WeatherNation
A tornado was spotted in Perryton, Texas last weekend
Ochiltree General Hospital was damaged by the Perryton tornado, but no one was injured
Debris was strewn across the hospital entrance, with branches and paneling broken off
Winter weather warnings are in effect in large parts of the country
Ochiltree General Hospital announced it was “affected by the tornado that touched down.”
In addition to tornado warnings, Texas is also under a “critical fire area” warning issued by the Storm Prediction Center due to very dry and gusty winds.
Tornado warnings are also in effect across Oklahoma, with images from the weekend showing dramatic thunderstorms and tornadoes beginning to form but not touching down.
Experts have predicted that hail the size of ping-pong balls could hit the state with the storms, warning residents to “be prepared to act quickly.”
It comes as space weather forecasters have issued a geomagnetic storm warning through Monday, warning that an eruption of plasma from a solar flare could disrupt radio broadcasts on Earth.
According to him, there is no reason for the public to be concerned the warning issued Saturday by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado.
The storm could interrupt high-frequency radio transmissions, for example by aircraft trying to communicate with distant control towers.
Most commercial aircraft can use satellite transmission as a backup, said Jonathan Lash, a forecaster at the center.
This image from NASA shows the sun as seen from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite on Saturday, March 23, 2024
Snow and ice cover the St. Joseph Lighthouses as waves crash along the Lake Michigan ice shelf formed along Tiscornia Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan, on January 17, 2024
Snow-covered cars in West Seneca, New York, on January 17, 2024
Patrick Sahr heads out just after sunrise to shovel snow from his car and driveway after at least 18 inches of new snow fell in Buffalo, New York on January 17, 2024.
A tree rests on a house after a storm passed through the Lake Oswego area on January 16, 2024
Satellite operators could have trouble tracking their spacecraft, and power grids could also see some “induced current” in their lines, although they can’t handle anything, he said.
“For the general public, if you have clear skies at night and are at higher latitudes, this would be a great opportunity to see the sky light up,” Lash said.
Every eleven years the sun’s magnetic field reverses, meaning the north and south poles change positions. Solar activity changes during that cycle and is now almost at its most active: solar maximum.
During such times, geomagnetic storms of the type that arrived Sunday could hit Earth a few times a year, Lash said. During solar minimum, several years can pass between storms.
In December, the largest solar flare radio communications disrupted in years.