Active weather pattern to bring range of hazards across the country
Several parts of the country will experience extreme weather this week, days after lines of tornadoes killed at least 32 people in several states.
Severe activity on Sunday will include critical fire danger, strong tornados, wind damage and hail in Texas and spring snowfall along higher elevations in the Northeast, forecasts show. More than 11 million Americans in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas are under threat for severe weather on Sunday.
Extreme weather will also be present in the West, with heavy snow expected in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and winter storm warnings in effect for the Cascade Mountain range in Oregon and Washington. Locations above 1,500 feet of elevation could see 1 to 2 feet of snow throughout the day into Sunday night.
Gusty winds could become damaging across the southwest Sunday and Monday, with 11 states from Texas to Montana under wind alerts. The dry breeze could feed into the critical fire danger predicted for southern Colorado, eastern New Mexico and western Texas on Sunday and Monday.
The area from Waco, Texas, to Dallas is especially under the threat for strong tornados. But the entire area from Austin to Texarkana, Texas, and Abilene, Texas, has the chance to experience tornados, destructive winds in excess of 70 mph and huge hail -- 2 inches or greater in size in some cases. The tornado watch for the area was extended into Louisiana later Sunday, through 1 a.m. local time.
A developing storm in the middle of the country on Tuesday could present a severe weather threat for several regions that just experienced deadly tornado activity.
The severe weather threat could affect cities like Chicago, Des Moines, Iowa; Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis, and Little Rock, Arkansas, which is still cleaning up from a deadly EF-3 tornado on Friday.
The predictions for inclement weather come days after deadly tornado activity in several states.
At least 32 people are dead across several states -- and dozens more hospitalized -- after the tornado outbreak moved across the U.S. on Friday and Saturday.
The fatalities occurred in Arkansas, Indiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Delaware and Illinois following several catastrophic tornadoes that uprooted homes and collapsed roofs.
The National Weather Service has confirmed at least 59 tornadoes in 11 states on Friday and Saturday, but the tally will likely climb as survey results continue to come in.
EF-3 tornados were confirmed in Tennessee, Indiana and Arkansas. One EF-4 tornado was confirmed in Iowa.
On Saturday, 250 storms were reported across the eastern U.S., including 230 wind reports, 18 hail reports, and two reports of tornados -- both in Sussex County, Delaware.
