Millions of Americans are under a winter storm watch Thursday as the nation faces heavy snowfall, flash floods, severe thunderstorms and more.
Dayton, Ohio, broke its record snowfall Wednesday, receiving 5 inches of powder in a single day, replacing a previous 108-year-old record of 4.9 inches, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The storm system traversing the continent is expected to drop anywhere from 4 to 8 inches of snow all the way from Texas to Maine through the rest of the week, with New England potentially facing upwards of 12 inches.
Some 12,000 properties in Arkansas, Missouri and Texas lost power Wednesday. Chicago-area airports accounted for a majority of the country’s flight cancellations, the BBC reported.
“It’s pulling a lot of energy and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and that’s what started the storms yesterday,” NWS meteorologist Rachel Cobb told the BBC. “And now as it tracks north and north east, it’s meeting the cold air and we’re seeing the heavy snow, one to two inches an hour.”
A strong weather system will continue moving through the East Coast. Heavy snow will continue to spread northeastward into New England. Heavy snow persists on the west slopes of the central Appalachians. Strong thunderstorms continue on the Carolina coastline. pic.twitter.com/IXqd2Y2eSx
— National Weather Service (@NWS) January 26, 2023
Tornado warnings are in effect in Texas, northwest Florida, Georgia and up through eastern North Carolina, according to tweets from NWS. A number of counties, including a series of islands off the coast of North Carolina received multiple warnings through Wednesday night into Thursday, which were shared by NWS’s Tornado account. (RELATED:America Braces For Another Week Of Wild Weather)
Tornadoes ripped through Texas on Wednesday, with a security camera catching at least one as it traveled through a residential neighborhood. No deaths have been reported as a result of the huge storm system as of early Thursday morning.