Powerful cross-country storm to unleash strong winds for millions this week
Power outages and travel delays at airports are among the impacts expected as powerful winds expand across much of the country this week.
Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby captured these videos showing the destruction left behind by a potentially tornadic storm in Mississippi.
In classic March fashion, gusty winds are expected to wreak havoc across a large part of the central and eastern United States through midweek as a strong storm moves east.
The strong winds will be caused by a squeeze play between the storm and areas of high pressure as it crosses the country. The storm will also continue to produce a swath of heavy snow across the Upper Midwest, an outbreak of severe weather in the East and flooding rainfall in the Northeast this week.
"The winds in association with the storm can become strong enough to cause widespread travel disruptions," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Elizabeth Danco. "They also can knock over trees and bring down power lines across the eastern two-thirds of the nation through Wednesday night."
Areas of Texas and Louisiana experienced severe weather that included damaging winds, rain and even snow on March 4.
After bringing some much-needed rain and snow to California and other areas of the Intermountain West over the weekend, the storm emerged east of the Front Range Monday night, kicking off the first day of widespread strong winds.
The heavily-populated I-95 corridor and Eastern Seaboard will finally experience the gusty winds on the final day of this multiday episode on Wednesday, as the storm intensifies and moves into Canada, and air pressure falls quickly ahead of an approaching cold front. The winds appear they will be strongest near the coast in the Delmarva Peninsula and along the Jersey Shore, where gusts upwards of 60 mph can occur.
Gusty winds will also expand into more of the Upper Midwest midweek as heavy snow falls to the north and west of the storm's center. This can lead to blizzard conditions and dangerous travel for several hours for portions of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Meanwhile, similar to the Southwest, a large part of the East has been abnormally dry for several months, with drought conditions in place. On Saturday, multiple brush fires, including a large one near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, raged in the East due to gusty winds and dry conditions as a cold front moved through. The risk of fires in the East will again be elevated behind the next front on Thursday.
A quieter period of weather is expected to follow later in the week as the storm exits into Canada and the front off the East Coast, with generally lighter winds from the return of high pressure.
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