Harrisburg, Pennsylvania– Hundreds of thousands of people were without power Saturday after strong winds blew eastward from the Great Lakes, downing trees and causing extensive property damage in their wake.
Nearly 600,000 customers remained affected as of midday in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks power outages across the country.
A 66 mph (106 kph) gust at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday was considered the fourth strongest on record and was not caused by a thunderstorm, according to the National Weather Service. Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront Airport saw winds of 85 mph (137 km/h) Friday afternoon.
Winds toppled a gas station awning in New Franklin, Ohio, and an auto parts store sign in Baldwin, Pennsylvania. Trees and tree limbs fell into or onto homes and cars from Cleveland to Pittsburgh. The roof of a school building in the Chicago suburb of Niles, Illinois, sustained severe wind damage.
High winds fanned multiple wildfires across a wide swath of Nebraska’s range and grasslands, causing one death in Arthur County, officials said. The victim was not immediately identified and the Sheriff’s Office did not release other details about the death.
What state officials are calling the Morrill County Fire has burned at least 708 square miles (about 1,834 square kilometers) across four counties since Thursday. At least 12 structures were destroyed, according to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.
Hazardous winds are just one piece of… Wild weather mosaic This includes heavy rain in Hawaii, warmer temperatures in Phoenix and the return of winter cold to the Midwest and Northeast. Chicago was expected to approach single digits Fahrenheit by Tuesday, with Minneapolis seeing lows around zero (minus 18 Celsius).
Several Minnesota cities have already declared snow emergencies as of Sunday, when the heaviest snowfall of the season is expected. Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are also in the crosshairs.
AccuWeather describes conditions as a “strong triple-threat mega-storm in March” Sunday into Monday.
“It’s definitely a very active weather weekend, that’s for sure,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist John Viereck said. “It’s a very amplified pattern, which means you’re going to get a lot of extremes. Also, not only the lower 48, but Hawaii is taking a hit right now with some very heavy rain.”
People along the Wisconsin-Iowa border may see some ice as travel conditions become dangerous in large parts of the upper Midwest, Viereck said.
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Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska.