Category Archives: US weather

Severe storms damage the Plains and midwest as forecasts warn of tornadoes

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Thousands face power outages and a number of schools close across region as forecasters warn of hail and flooding

A day after severe storms damaged communities in the Plains and the midwest, forecasters warned that storms could bring giant hail, tornadoes and severe wind gusts to the regions again on Tuesday afternoon and evening.

Authorities in Kansas reported several people with minor injuries after storms passed through on Monday. Three people were left with minor injuries in rural Franklin county, about 50 miles (80km) south-west of Kansas City, according to the sheriff’s office. In the town of Ottawa, officials said there was structural damage, but no deaths or injuries. A National Weather Service survey team will assess damage in the Ottawa area on Tuesday to determine whether a tornado passed through there, according to Chelsea Picha, a meteorologist with the weather service’s office in Topeka.

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‘The threat is here’: searing US heatwave bad news for wildfire season and water supply

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Experts say brutal temperatures in west threaten to melt sparse snowpack – and warn hot, dry conditions here to stay

A stunning heatwave that shattered records in the US west is threatening to rapidly melt the sparse snowpack and ramp up wildfire risks in the seasons ahead.

March has already been historically hot, but the early onset of summer weather across the region may be here to stay. There’s little reprieve in forecasts, which show more heat records may fall this spring.

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Hawaii assesses damage left by worst flooding in more than 20 years

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People evacuated on Oahu and Maui as rains lifted houses and cars, swept through stores and left streets mud-clogged

Hawaii is assessing the extensive damage left by the worst flooding the islands have seen in more than 20 years.

Heavy rains and floodwater forced thousands on the North Shore of Oahu to evacuate over the weekend and triggered evacuation orders for parts of Maui. Floodwater from rains lifted houses and cars, inundated farms and swept through grocery stores on the islands, leaving behind a thick layer of mud.

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Hawaii urges residents to ‘leave now’ amid worst flooding in over 20 years

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People in hard-hit areas of Oahu and Maui told to evacuate with still more rain expected over the weekend

As Hawaii endures its worst flooding in more than 20 years, officials urged people in hard-hit areas to “LEAVE NOW”. That warning early on Saturday came after heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a winter storm a week ago, and still more was expected over the weekend.

Muddy floodwaters smothered vast stretches of Oahu’s North Shore, a community renowned for its big-wave surfing. Raging waters lifted homes and cars and prompted evacuation orders for 5,500 people north of Honolulu. Authorities cautioned that a 120-year-old dam could fail.

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Thousands ordered to evacuate as Hawaii hit by severe flash floods

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Officials warn some residents could be trapped by rising waters as Wahiawā dam on Oahu ‘may collapse at any time’

Towering flash floods and an imminent dam failure in the northern part of Oahu triggered evacuation warnings in Hawaii on Friday, as the state continued contending with a powerful storm this week.

The waters came on quickly in the middle of the night, and videos on social media captured inundated streets and cars being swallowed by the muddy floodwaters.

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Thousands of flights canceled as winter storm marches across US

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Storm system dumps snow in midwest and threatens east coast with high winds and possible ‘long-track tornadoes’

A late winter storm continued a destructive, elemental march across the eastern US, with thousands of flights canceled or delayed as powerful winds combined with a partial government shutdown delayed travelers passing through airport security scanners.

Flight delays and cancellations mounted at some of the nation’s largest airports, including in New York, Chicago and Atlanta. Flight delays within, into, or out of the US totaled 9,112 by late afternoon, with cancellations standing at 4,763, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.

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Millions face road travel bans as snow blankets New York and north-east US

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Blizzard warnings issued as some areas receive over a foot of snow, creating whiteout conditions

Millions of people in New York City and a large swath of the north-eastern US were stuck at home under road travel bans and blizzard warnings on Monday as heavy snow and strong winds intensified, creating whiteout conditions in the densely populated region.

Snow fell at a rate of 2-3in (5-7.6cm) an hour early on Monday from New York through Massachusetts. Some areas have received well over a foot (30cm) of snow since Sunday, along with wind gusts of over 30mph (48km/h) and low visibility.

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New York City gets first blizzard warning in nine years as area hunkers down

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New Jersey and other east coast areas brace for storm threatening more than 1ft of snow and 55mph wind gusts

Blizzard warnings were issued Saturday for New York City, New Jersey and coastal communities along the east coast for a late-winter storm set to arrive on Sunday that could dump more than a foot of snow and bring wind gusts of more than 55mph.

The blizzard warning for New York City is the first since 2017 and comes as parts of the city are still dotted with hillocks of ice – leftovers from the previous major snowstorm nearly a month ago.

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Winter storm brings ‘very heavy’ snow and more rain to California

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Avalanche warning for Sierra Nevadas while southern California experiences heavy rain and flooding

California is being blanketed by a winter storm that has brought the coldest air mass in three years to the state – along with heavy snowfall, road closures and power outages.

The University of California Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, near Donner Pass, reported 28in of snow on Tuesday, with another 3ft expected in the next two days. I-80 is closed from Colfax to the Nevada state line due to snow.

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Winter storm brings foot of snow to midwest over busiest US travel weekend

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Plane skidded off runway and 45 cars were piled up as 53 million were under winter weather alerts over Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving weekend storm system brought over a foot of snow and strong winds across the US midwest and thunderstorms across the south, as 53 million people from South Dakota to New York were under winter weather alerts.

Over the weekend, ahead of one of the busiest travel days of the year on Sunday, a 45-car pile-up occurred on interstate 78 in Indiana and a Delta Air Lines plane skidded off the runway in Des Moines, Iowa, during landing.

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Child among seven dead after atmospheric river storm drenches California

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Lingering thunderstorms pose risk of mudslides in areas around Los Angeles recently ravaged by wildfires

A powerful atmospheric river weather system has mostly moved through California but not before causing at least seven deaths and dousing much of the state.

Among the dead was a seven-year-old girl who was swept into the ocean by waves estimated up to 20ft at a state beach on Friday. The girl’s father, 39-year-old Yuji Hu, of Calgary, Alberta, was killed while trying to save his daughter.

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Man trapped in flooded basement dies as New York hit by severe rain

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Officials say body of man, 39, pulled from Brooklyn basement as rainstorm closes roads and causes delays

A man’s body was pulled from a flooded New York City basement on Thursday during a rainstorm that shut down roadways and caused airport delays, authorities said.

A scuba team recovered the body of a 39-year-old man after firefighters received a call of a person trapped in a flooded basement in Brooklyn at about 4.30pm, police said. The man, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

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Plane crashes on to Massachusetts highway and kills two people on board

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Blazing debris on road amid rain and wind, with one person on ground hurt and no known survivors found on plane

A small plane crashed along a major highway in south-eastern Massachusetts early on Monday amid rain and strong winds, killing both people on board and wounding another person on the ground, authorities said.

In videos taken by people in passing vehicles, smoke could be seen billowing up above Interstate 195 from scattered, blazing debris. The highway was closed in both directions near the crash site in Dartmouth, a town about 50 miles (80km) miles south of Boston, the state department of transportation said.

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New Jersey declares state of emergency as nor’easter approaches

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Airports post delays and cancellations in advance of anticipated coastal flooding and strong winds

A nor’easter churned its way up the east coast on Sunday, with New Jersey declaring a state of emergency and some airports posting delays and cancellations in advance of anticipated coastal flooding and strong winds, as another storm system struck farther south with heavy rain and flooding.

“The greatest effects are going to be the coastal flooding potential, especially for areas from north-eastern North Carolina northward to much of the New Jersey coast,” said meteorologist Bob Oravec with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

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Tropical Storm Imelda forming and expected to become hurricane

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Forecast track could take storm, which caused disruption in Bahamas and Cuba, away from US east coast

Tropical Storm Imelda formed on Sunday and was expected to become a hurricane on a forecast track that could take it away from the US east coast in the coming days. The storm was causing disruption in the Bahamas and Cuba on Sunday, and a tropical storm watch was posted in parts of Florida.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto weakened very slightly but remained a strong category 4 storm in the Atlantic, threatening Bermuda.

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Tropical Storm Imelda forming and expected to become hurricane

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Forecast track could take storm, which caused disruption in Bahamas and Cuba, away from US east coast

Tropical Storm Imelda formed on Sunday and was expected to become a hurricane on a forecast track that could take it away from the US east coast in the coming days. The storm was causing disruption in the Bahamas and Cuba on Sunday, and a tropical storm watch was posted in parts of Florida.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto weakened very slightly but remained a strong category 4 storm in the Atlantic, threatening Bermuda.

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Three dead in Arizona flooding as the Carolinas brace for possible hurricane

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Flooding overwhelms town of Globe as North Carolina governor declares an emergency ahead of storm

At least three people died and others were believed missing after flooding in a rural community in Arizona, officials said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, crews spent Saturday making preparations for an unnamed weather system that is forecast to approach that state’s coast as a hurricane early next week.

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Two-year-old boy drowns after heavy rain unleashes mudslides in southern California

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Boy’s body was found Friday after he drowned in family’s vehicle when it was swept off the road by flood waters

A two-year-old drowned in a vehicle that was swept away by flood waters in southern California, and the child’s father had to be rescued by authorities, officials said Friday.

The deadly emergency unfolded amid sudden heavy rain east of Los Angeles that unleashed mudslides which plowed into homes and trapped drivers for hours on roadways.

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Hurricane Erin knocks out power lines in Puerto Rico before heading north

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Most of more than 147,000 customers affected reconnected by Monday as category 4 storm not forecast to make landfall

Hurricane Erin’s outer bands pelted the US territory of Puerto Rico with heavy rains and tropical-storm winds during the day on Sunday, knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers, according to officials.

At one point, more than 147,000 utility customers were without power in Puerto Rico, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees the transmission and distribution of power on the island. By 5.30am on Monday, 96.3% of customers had electric service, with most who were affected by outages being concentrated in the Caguas, Mayagüez and San Juan regions, Luma said on X.

Guardian staff contributed reporting

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Hurricane Erin weakens to category 3 as storm lashes Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands

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First Atlantic hurricane of 2025 diminishes but tropical storm warnings issued for Turks and Caicos

Hurricane Erin was downgraded to a category 3 hurricane early Sunday as its outer bands continued to lash the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with heavy rains and tropical-storm force winds.

While Erin’s maximum winds diminished, the storm’s overall size grew and forecasters issued tropical storm warnings for the Turks and Caicos Islands and a watch for the south-east Bahamas.

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