Powerful storm brings blizzard, tornadoes to U.S. Midwest

A powerful storm spread an early blast of winter across the northern U.S. Midwest over the weekend, burying some areas in over a metre of snow, while spawning a swarm of tornadoes that injured 15 people and caused millions of dollars in damages.

Heavy snow across Wyoming, South Dakota and northern Nebraska stranded dozens of motorists, left thousands without power, and reportedly caused the deaths of three people in a traffic accident, as a storm swept down out of the Rockies last Friday. By Saturday morning, a swath that stretched through southern Montana, Wyoming, and into the Dakotas was digging out from the wintry blast. The heaviest snow fell across Wyoming and South Dakota, with many areas getting up to 70-80 cm of snow. The highest amount was in the city of Deadwood, which reported over 120 cm by the time the storm was over.

Driving winds behind the storm front made conditions even worse for Saturday, with gusts up to 90 km/h turning the snowstorm into a blizzard, prompting severe winter storm warnings and blizzard warnings across the region.

This same weather system kicked up severe thunderstorms further to the southeast on Friday night, which spawned several tornadoes that tore through eastern South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa. Fifteen people were injured in the town of Wayne, Nebraska as the twisters swept through, with around a dozen homes reportedly destroyed by the storms. According to the Washington Post, around two dozen farms were destroyed in Woodbury County, near Sioux City, Iowa, along with another 60 that were damaged, but fortunately only one minor injury was reported.

Meteorologist David Carpenter, who works in the National Weather Service office in Rapid City, SD, told the Washington Post that the city saw its highest one-day snowfall total for October on Friday — 48 cm, beating out the previous record from Oct 19th, 1919 by over 20 cm — and that also beats out the highest monthly total, of 38 cm, also set in 1919. The snowfall in the Black Hills area of South Dakota reportedly reached near-record levels due to this storm.

This early taste of winter for the northern plains states was unusual, but apparently not unheard of, according to what Nebraska NWS meteorologist Cory Martin told Reuters over the weekend. "But this amount of snow for an October storm is on the higher end," he added.

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Although the prairie provinces were just to the north of this snowstorm and blizzard, residents there were spared any early taste of winter themselves. They definitely felt the cold and the winds from this weather system, with overnight temperatures dipping below freezing, however the snow didn't reach far enough north to have any impact.

The storm certainly delivered plenty of precipitation through the Great Lakes region as it tracked east, although the cold blast didn't follow along, so it all fell as rain. The rain is tracking through eastern Ontario and western Quebec today, and stretching all the way down the east coast of the United States. Rainfall warnings have been called for regions of central Quebec and wind warnings are in effect for regions east of Montreal, and some areas of the U.S. Northeast are even under a tornado watch today due to severe thunderstorms along the storm front.'

(Photo Courtesy: Reuters/Kristina Barker/Rapid City Journal)

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