WPBN: One person was killed on the California beach, while tornadoes and aircraft delays were caused in Texas by strong winter winds that created deadly waves along the West Coast and triggered tornadoes in the South.
In California, a man was discovered beneath debris on the coast, and numerous injuries and at least one fatality are attributed to the harsh weather. Because of the weather, officials advised the people to be on guard and to “never turn your back on the ocean.”
Weather radar suggested a tornado was present in the area when the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning late Thursday afternoon for areas of Texas northeast of Houston. Reports of damage were not immediately available.
By Thursday night, 4 million people in southeast Texas were at risk of severe weather, and over a million people in the South were under tornado warnings.
“Thunderstorms will continue to pose a threat for a few tornadoes this evening and into the early overnight hours as they spread east-northeastward into parts of western and central Louisiana,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s Storm Prediction Center stated. “Damaging winds up to 60-65 mph and isolated hail may also occur,” it added.
According to FlightAware, a website that tracks flights, severe thunderstorms caused the Federal Aviation Administration to issue ground stops at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Thursday, causing at least 700 flights to be scrubbed nationwide.
Travelers in the Pacific Northwest, central southern states, and the Midwest faced severe weather and delays Thursday, while most of the country saw pleasant weather.
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In addition to making driving hazardous at times, freezing rain and fog caused delays in air travel via Chicago and other Midwest airports.
“Across the Midwest, areas of rain and drizzle and the potential for widespread fog could produce slower-than-normal travel around the holiday,” AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham stated.
In the morning hours of Thursday, fog significantly decreased visibility throughout the Midwest, and near-freezing temperatures, rain, and drizzle resulted in slick runways at airports as well as on highways, bridges, and overpasses.
On Christmas night, those risks were primarily south of I-90, but by Thursday morning, they had migrated north toward the upper Great Lakes.
While rain in the Midwest and South-Central U.S. made driving hazardous or caused delays at airports in certain places, the National Weather Service reports that severe rain and snow delayed traffic in the Pacific Northwest.
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Through Friday, a lot of moisture will deliver several inches of rain to northern California and the Pacific Northwest’s upslope regions, potentially causing minor floods.
According to the NWS, several upper-level systems were moving across the Pacific Northwest on Thursday, bringing with them moderate to heavy rainfall near the coast, a combination of rain and snow at lower elevations, and extremely heavy snowfall in mountain ranges.
A second wave arrived Friday morning after the first one moved through the Pacific Northwest on Thursday, entering the Great Basin and the northern and central Rockies.
Most mountain regions were seeing up to one foot of snowfall, while the Cascade Mountains and mountain ranges in the Great Basin and northern Rockies were particularly vulnerable to two or more feet of snowfall.
Road travel in higher elevations became hazardous due to whiteout conditions brought on by strong, gusty winds.
The NWS predicted that late Thursday would see a taper off of sporadic showers and thunderstorms throughout the western Gulf Coast and the middle and lower Mississippi Valley.
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Rainy weather continued into Thursday afternoon in the Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas region.
According to the NWS, wind shear could produce huge hail, damaging gusts, and tornadoes, and some severe thunderstorms could potentially generate flash flooding.
On Friday, the system is expected to travel northeasterly into the Mississippi Valley, lower Ohio, and Tennessee Valley regions, according to forecasters.
However, the majority of the country should see pleasant weather, with some regions seeing temperatures up to 15 degrees above average.
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