Major winter storm clobbers U.S. Plains: Videos
Meteorologists call storms like this one a "bomb cyclone," a winter hurricane that forms when the barometric pressure drops 24 millibars in 24 hours.
Thursday again saw intense storms slam the U.S., this time further east in the nation's midsection.
Tornadoes were reported in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Alabama as these storms fired up into the evening. At least one tornado was confirmed in the Michigan community of Vernon, between Lansing and Flint, which damaged at last two homes, snapped numerous telephone poles and ripped a metal roof off of a building according to the U.S. National Weather Service. No deaths or injuries have been reported as yet.
Major damage was reported at other locations, and into the evening, severe storms capable of producing tornadoes, or at the very last damaging winds and large hail, were still ongoing in Michigan, soon to move into southwestern Ontario, the Ohio Valley, and northern Alabama.
SYSTEM KILLED AT LEAST ONE PERSON WEDNESDAY
Thursday's severe storms are the product of the same Colorado low that brought a late-winter blizzard to the U.S. central Plains states states on Wednesday, bringing high winds and as much as two feet of snow, disrupting air and road travel, as well as causing widespread power outages amid frigid temperatures. A few tornadoes were also confirmed across ArkLaTex, Mississippi and Kansas.
The ‘bomb cyclone’ contributed to a 100-car pileup on Interstate 25 in Colorado Wednesday, which left over 1,000 drivers stranded on the artery for several hours.
The Colorado Department of Transportation eventually closed large portions of Interstate 70 and Interstate 25 due to blowing snow. Residents were being urged to stay off the roads during the duration of the storm, CBS Denver reported.
As authorities scrambled to rescue drivers, Colorado State Patrol Corporal Daniel Groves was killed after being struck by a vehicle while helping a stranded driver.
Governor Jared Polis declared an emergency in Colorado on Wednesday afternoon, which allowed the Colorado National Guard to be deployed.
Meteorologists call storms like this one a "bomb cyclone," a winter hurricane that forms when the barometric pressure drops 24 millibars in 24 hours.
The system continues to move east Friday, but aside from an area of marginal severe risk arund coastal Virginia and North Carolina, most storms it generates are expected to be non-severe.
BELOW: STORM IMPACT AS SHARED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Sources: Reuters | CNN | CBS Denver
