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WORLD NEWS | Massive US storm brings tornado warning, blizzard threat

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SIO FALLS (USA), Dec. 13 (AP) — Much of the central U.S., from the Rockies to the Midwest, was bracing for blizzard-like conditions on Tuesday, while states further south saw a A tornado warning has been issued for a major storm sweeping the country.

A blizzard warning has been issued for an area stretching from Montana to western Nebraska and Colorado, and the National Weather Service said some parts of western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska could see up to 2 feet (61 cm) of snowfall. Meanwhile, ice and sleet are expected across the eastern Great Plains.

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About half an inch (2.5 centimeters) of ice could form in parts of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota, with winds of up to 45 mph (72 kph), the National Weather Service warned. Power outages, tree damage, fallen branches and hazardous travel conditions all threaten the area.

“This is a storm we’re not kidding,” the South Dakota Department of Public Safety said in a tweet Monday, urging people to stock up on essentials and then stay home if the storm hits.

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Portions of Interstate 90 and Interstate 29 through South Dakota are expected to close Tuesday morning due to “freezing rain, heavy snowfall, low visibility, drifting snow and high winds,” the state Department of Transportation said. It said secondary roads could become “impassable”.

Eastern Texas, much of Louisiana and western Mississippi will face tornadoes, strong winds, hail and flash flooding on Tuesday, with severe storms expected farther south. A tornado warning was issued for parts of central Oklahoma and northern Texas early Tuesday.

The weather service warned of a “confirmed tornado” just after 5 a.m. Tuesday, with damage reported in the town of Wayne, Oklahoma. Video footage from Oklahoma television station KOCO showed extensive damage to a home in Wayne, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of Oklahoma City.

The threat of severe weather continued through Wednesday in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

“It’s going to be a busy week as this system moves across the country,” said Mark Chenard, a meteorologist at Weather Service headquarters in College Park, Maryland.

The snow downpour in the Sierra Nevada over the weekend was part of the same system before moving east.

In northern Utah, a tour bus crashed Monday morning as snow and frigid temperatures blanketed the area. The bus flipped over in Tremonton after the driver lost control while switching lanes, the state Highway Patrol said in a statement. The Highway Patrol said 23 passengers were injured, some seriously.

Thousands of students from Native American communities in Wyoming, Nebraska and the Dakotas traveled to Rapid City, South Dakota, for this week’s Lakota National Invitational, a high school athletic event. Brian Brewer, one of the organizers, said he had urged schools and participants to travel early.

“We told them this storm was coming — if you leave tomorrow, you probably won’t be able to make it,” he said on Monday.

In Northern California, most mountain roads reopened on Monday. The remaining warnings for Southern California’s mountains expired Monday night, the weather service said.

With winter still a little over a week away, this is the latest fall storm to bring heavy rainfall to California, which is dealing with the effects of a multiyear drought that has sparked calls to conserve water.

The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab in northwest Lake Tahoe reported 54.5 inches (138.5 centimeters) of snow from the storm.

Sierra snowpack peaks on average on April 1st and is usually an important source of water during the spring melt. Throughout the drought, experts have been optimistic about early-season storms as climate change makes once-average conditions rare.

Last year, a powerful atmospheric river storm brought a lot of rain to California in October, and a wet December buried parts of the Sierra Nevada under snow. The state then experienced its driest January through April on record. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)



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