A Wild Weather Weekend in the U.S. Brings Damaging Winds, Flooding, Tornadoes, and Heavy Snow

A massive four-day winter storm has brought hurricane-force wind gusts, severe flooding, the first tornado death of 2019, and heavy snows to the U.S. On Monday afternoon, the storm’s winds had left over 550,000 customers without power; Pennsylvania topped the list, with 160,000. Winds gusting as high as 74 mph on the east shore of Lake Erie, at Niagara, pushed a surge of water from the lake onto the shore, creating massive piles of ice and flooding.

WHOA! #Iceshove along the Niagara River in Fort Ontario after a boom gave way upstream and ice flowed down the river courtesy of 60+ MPH wind gusts. Video via @ViralHog pic.twitter.com/SbAPIqpFRc

— Mike Seidel (@mikeseidel) February 25, 2019

Updated peak wind gust reports as of 11 am Monday morning. pic.twitter.com/LfnqBFxTIy

— NWS Eastern Region (@NWSEastern) February 25, 2019

In Wisconsin, one person died and 71 were injured on Sunday in a 131-car pileup on Interstate 41 in Neenah, the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office said. Another 500 vehicles were stuck behind the accident and had to be rerouted, WBAY-TV reported. The interstate reopened about 3 a.m. Monday.

UNREAL! Can you imagine being drifted into your house? Allan Stewart in #AustinMN now has! Goodnight! #MNWX #ABC6WX @NWSLaCrosse @StormHour @Ginger_Zee @Wx_Max #Blizzard pic.twitter.com/Cm8PBZTKAQ

— Chris Kuball (@ChrisKuball) February 24, 2019

The storm has left hundreds of ice anglers stranded on Lake Mille Lacs, about 80 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The snow drifted too deep on ice roads on the lake for vehicles to get back to the mainland, KARE reported. Officials are working to get snowplows out to the anglers, who are concerned about running out of food and propane.

Figure 1. A child plays around the podium that was virtually undamaged or moved in the tornado that destroyed First Pentecostal Church in Columbus, Miss., Sunday morning, Feb. 24, 2019. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

First tornado death of 2019 recorded in Columbus, Mississippi

A line of strong thunderstorms spawned multiple tornadoes in the South on Saturday, with NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center logging eight preliminary tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. The most powerful of these tornadoes, rated an EF3, hit Columbus, Mississippi at 5:15 pm CST Saturday. Columbus, a city of about 24,000 people, is 50 miles west of Birmingham, Alabama. The tornado killed one person and injured nineteen.

Ashley Glynell Pounds, 41, of Tupelo, Mississippi, was in a house she and her husband were renovating when it collapsed during the storm in Columbus, the Associated Press reported. She was taken to a hospital and died during surgery, Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant told the newspaper. Pounds' death is the first tornado death of 2019.

Figure 2. The Ohio River at Smithland Lock and Dam as of Monday afternoon, February 25, 2019, was 12 feet above flood stage, its second highest level there since record keeping began in the early 1980s. The NWS states that at this level, “Large amounts of property damage can be expected. Evacuation of many homes and businesses becomes necessary. Highway 60 in Smithland closes.” Image credit: USGS.

Record February rains causing major river flooding

The heavy rain this month in the mid-South and Ohio Valley has propelled several cities to their wettest Februaries on record, causing significant river flooding. Nashville, Tennessee (13.47 inches), Tupelo, Mississippi (15.48 inches), Knoxville, Tennessee (12.83 inches), and Huntsville, Alabama (12.60 inches) all had a record-wet February.

#BREAKING - Mudslide on I24 in Nashville has closed the road for at least a week according to TDOT pic.twitter.com/QoqlX6N6pk

— Chris Conte (@chrisconte) February 24, 2019

The heavy rains have brought the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee rivers to major flood stage, and days or weeks of major flooding are expected along portions of all three rivers. Major flooding was occurring on Monday at three gauges on the Tennessee River in western Tennessee. The river was forecast to crest on Wednesday in Perryville, Tennessee, at its second-highest level in records dating to at least 1897. Farther upstream, at Savannah, Tennessee, the river has risen to its third-highest level on record, dating to 1897.

#BREAKING - A State of Emergency has been declared for all of Tennessee due to ongoing flood concerns pic.twitter.com/5ZigrlfcTX

— Chris Conte (@chrisconte) February 24, 2019

The first three gauges on the Ohio River upstream from the Ohio River’s confluence with the Mississippi River are all at major flood stage. The Ohio River at Smithland Lock and Dam was 12 feet above flood stage on Monday afternoon, its second highest level there since record keeping began in the early 1980s. The NWS states that at this level, “Large amounts of property damage can be expected. Evacuation of many homes and businesses becomes necessary. Highway 60 in Smithland closes.” At its confluence with the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois, the Ohio River is forecast to crest this weekend at its third highest level on record.

As these crests work their way into the Mississippi River, they will cause major flooding on the Father of Waters, and the Army Corps of Engineers announced on Monday afternoon that they will open the flood gates of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in Louisiana on Wednesday to relieve pressure on the levees between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. As of Monday afternoon, the Lower Mississippi was already at major flood stage at Osceola, Arkansas, and was predicted to reach major flood stage at six other gauges, from Tennessee to Louisiana. At some of these locations, the predicted flood crests will be among the ten highest since the modern levee system was built in 1928.

Ron Brackett and Pam Wright of weather.com provided some of the stats for this post.