Strong storms that brought tornadoes to rural Oklahoma and massive hail to sections of Kansas have erupted in the central United States. Forecasters have issued a rare high-risk weather warning for both Oklahoma and Kansas, and they warn that the severe weather could continue into the early hours of Tuesday.
The National Weather Service stated on Monday that it is not advisable to wait to seek cover before heading inside during a tornado.
Monday afternoon brought with it gusty winds and heavy rainfall. Later in the day, tornadoes were sighted around northern Oklahoma, with one surfacing approximately 45 minutes north of Tulsa.
The National Weather Service reported that a storm in the small hamlet of Covington had at one point “produced tornadoes off and on for over an hour.”
Wind farm turbines whirled across the region in the blinding rain and wind.Hail that was three inches (7.6 cm) in diameter and the size of an apple fell on some parts of Kansas.
While some parts of Oklahoma, like Sulphur and Holdenville, were still getting over a tornado that killed four people and left thousands without power late last month, the storms tore across the state. Tornadoes have devastated the Midwest and the Plains this spring.
The State Emergency Operations Center of Oklahoma, located in a bunker close to the state Capitol, is still in operation as a result of the catastrophic storms that occurred over the weekend.
According to the Weather Service, the greatest risk of tornadoes on Monday was for more than 3.4 million people living in Oklahoma, parts of southern Kansas, and far northern Texas, as well as 1,614 schools and 159 hospitals.
In order to shield some of his tractors and heavy machinery from hail, Sweetwater, a town in western Oklahoma, is home to farmer and rancher Monte Tucker. On Monday, he spent the day storing these items in barns. He indicated that if the weather gets dangerous, he will let his neighbors know they are welcome to come to his house.
“We built a house 10 years ago, and my stubborn wife put her foot down and made sure we built a safe room,” Tucker stated. According to him, the walls of the ground-level room are made of reinforced concrete.
A high risk warning from the Storm Prediction Center is not something that happens every day or every spring, according to Bill Bunting, deputy director of the center.
“It’s the highest level of threat we can assign,” he stated.
Read Also:Â US Braces for Spectacular Aurora Display: Geomagnetic Storm Alert!
It was last issued on March 31, 2023, after a severe storm system that ripped through rural Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, and other portions of the Midwest and South.
The atypical convergence is the cause of the elevated risk: Monday saw strong winds reaching up to 75 mph (46 kph) tear through Colorado’s densely populated Front Range region, which includes the Denver metro.
According to the National Weather Service’s Denver office, the winds are being produced by a low pressure system that is located north of Colorado and is also bringing moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. This increases the likelihood of severe weather on the Plains.
There is no chance of thunderstorms or tornadoes in Colorado.
In the United States, the entire week appears to be stormy. Throughout the remainder of the week, the South and the eastern United States are predicted to bear the brunt of the unfavorable weather, with over 21 million people living in Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. Over the weekend, it ought to become evident.
In the meantime, after days of intense rain in southeast Texas left neighborhoods inundated and necessitated hundreds of high-water rescues, flooding in the Houston region started to recede on Monday.
