April Goes Out with a Bang

It has been quite a weekend nationally as a slow moving storm system has wreaked havoc in many areas, including Alabama today.

It brought winter storm conditions to parts of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, Kansas, Nebraska into Minnesota. Blizzard warnings continue late this afternoon of the Panhandles, northwestern Kansas and southwestern Nebraska. Storm snow totals of 6-12 inches fell across the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, along with substantial blowing and drifting of snow. Up to 14 inches fell across southern Kansas.

Nine inches of rain fell in Dalhart TX, establishing a new record for the date.

Flooding is a huge problem from the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri through the Midwest into Michigan. A state of emergency exists in the Show Me State where nearly ten inches of rain of rain fell over the weekend. Flash flood watches and numerous warnings are in effect.

The Mississippi RIver is in flood all the way to Vicksburg. 83 USGS river gauge stations are in flood across the Ozarks. Several stations reached near record levels or beat their old records. The Gasconade River at Hazelgreen MO broke its old record of 34.9 feet.

Killer tornadoes struck Van Zandt County in Texas saturday evening, killing four and injuring 52. There were excellent warnings for the tornado which struck Canton at 6:13 p.m., starting with a tornado warning at 545 p.m. Canton was mentioned in the warning with an arrival time of 615 and it carried a TORNADO…OBSERVED tag. At 549 p.m., an update was sent that warned about considerable damage. At 6:02, the update called it a particularly dangerous situation and stated the tornado was just west of Canton.

The other tornado, which struck the Dodge dealership on the eastern side of Canton next to I-20 was first warned for at 6:13 p.m. It was upgraded to TORNADO…OBSERVED AT 619 p.m. At 6:24, a mile wide tornado was reported to be about to cross I-20. The tornado struck around 6:28.

Four confirmed tornadoes struck Van Zandt County according to the NWS Fort Worth. The preliminary rating on the long track tornado that impacted Van Zandt County was an EF-3.

Record highs today across the East included 86F at Washington’s Dulles Airport, 86F at Morganton WV and 95 at both Tampa and Sarasota FL.

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