Big Storm Update: Tornadoes Hit NM; More Wind, Floods, Blizzard, Severe Weather Today

The giant storm in the Plains already looked
really wound up shortly after dawn
this morning. 

That big storm we've been talking about continues to raise havoc over the middle of the nation.

The storm spun off a couple of relatively rare tornadoes in southeastern New Mexico, causing six injuries and a lot of damage in the town of Dexter. Another dramatic-looking tornado passed near the town of Loving.

Storms roared across Texas, creating 80 mph gusts in Grand Prairie, Texas and 78 mph at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport early this morning.

There is the risk of more severe weather today, this time in the lower Mississippi River valley. The main risk from this is damaging straight line winds. But there also might be a couple more tornadoes.

Today, the focus is on the Plains, from near the Front Range of the Rockies out to near the Mississippi River.

It'll be a blizzard to the west, transitioning to a flood further east. And a TON of wind.

Yesterday was actually a lovely day in eastern Colorado. Temperatures reached the 60s with at least a little sun.

Today, rain will change to snow in Colorado and a blizzard will set in across the northeastern part of the state, including the cities of Denver and Colorado Springs. Further out into the Colorado Plains, where winds during tonight's blizzard could gust to a whopping 75 mph.

The Denver Post reports this might be the the strongest Colorado blizzard in decades. Flights in and out of Denver are already canceled, even before the bulk of the storm arrives.

A rare, large tornado neaer Hagerman, in southeastern
New Mexico on Tuesday. 

Obviously, travel is not recommended later today and tonight in Colorado, and in other areas that will get an intense blizzard out of this.

This blizzard zone also includes the eastern half of Wyoming, western Nebraska, western and central South Dakota, central and eastern North Dakota and the northwestern tip of Minnesota.

In parts of western South Dakota, up to two feet of snow might fall with winds gusting to 60 mph. That's pretty damn extreme.

There won't be as much snow further east, but the wind will certainly howl as the storm reaches its deepest barometric pressure, which might set records in Kansas tonight. Winds gusting to at least 75 mph could hit portions of northern Texas, western Oklahoma and the western half of Kansas tonight.

Along and near the big storm's path, there's an ugly variety of weather planned.  As an example, let's look at Yankton, South Dakota, where many of my relatives live.

High winds overnight collapsed this communications tower near
Abilene, Texas. Photo by Joe Fry via Twitter.

This morning, Yankton and environs is under a flood warning, due to snow melt and an expected inch of rain.

Snow and rain mixed now will change to rain. The melting snow and wet air is also creating dense fog. The rain this afternoon and tonight will probably also be punctuated by thunderstorms.

Tomorrow, the cold air will rush into Yankton and change the precipitation to snow, which will probably accumulate to several inches.

Winds could gust to more than 55 mph. Yankton's not alone. A lot of places in the northern Plains along and path of the storm face these conditions.

Here in Vermont, we're still expecting nothing too dramatic from this storm. A minor weather disturbance this evening seems destined to throw another handful of unwelcome snowflakes on especially northern sections.

But this snow won't be as surprisingly big as what happened Monday night, when north central and northeastern Vermont got a surprise 3 to 10 inch snowstorm. This snow also brought the depth of the snow atop Mount Mansfield to 116 inches. This, or whatever paltry amount falls tonight, will almost certainly be the peak depth for the season up there.

Funnel cloud over Mesa, Arizona as the giant storm began
to organize in the desert Southwest Tuesday.
Photo by Jon Morley via Twitter.

The warmth then temporarily comes in Thursday and Friday to melt some of the snow. Rainfall with this larger system Friday will be relatively light, so that won't contribute much to run off from the snow melt.

Still, there's a lot of ice jams or potential ice jams around in the rivers, so that could cause problems Friday and Saturday.  

The warmth here in Vermont will be short-lived, as we'll get into a chilly pattern again for the beginning of next week. No full on spring yet!

The good news for the nation as a whole is that after this one, the weather pattern across the nation will change somewhat. There will be less of a propensity for large storms to crash onto the California shores, then cause snowstorms, floods, severe weather and whatnot across most of the rest of the nation.

There will be minor systems in the week after this one, but nothing really major. So most people definitely get a break.

Brief video of a large, relatively rare tornado in New Mexico Tuesday: