Thunderstorms swept across the Oklahoma plains Thursday night, with severe weather expected to intensify Friday and bring the threat of powerful tornadoes to multiple states in the heartland.
in A strange scene was captured on videoA responder was driving directly into a storm near the western Oklahoma town of Fairview, where flashes of lightning illuminated a giant funnel that appeared to reach the ground. That storm, one of the first bouts of severe weather on the verge of spring storm season, was captured late Thursday on a camera mounted on the deputy’s car.
Nearby, a 47-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter from Fairview were found dead in a car near the intersection of a highway and a county road at about 10 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. The crash “appears to be tornado-related,” Sarah Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, said in a statement.
“Severe weather struck Major County last night and tragically claimed the lives of a mother and daughter,” Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said in a statement on Friday. “I pray for the family as they grieve this tragic loss, as well as for all those affected by the storms.”
The National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, planned to send out a damage survey crew on Friday to see if Thursday night’s storms were confirmed tornadoes, meteorologist Ryan Bunker said. “As of now, we are still investigating it.”
Storms could be more severe on Friday, with more than 7 million Americans most at risk of severe weather in an area that includes urban areas of Kansas City, Missouri; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Omaha, Nebraska, according to the National Storm Prediction Center. Nearly 25 million people are at slightly lower risk in a region that includes Dallas, Oklahoma City and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Scattered severe thunderstorms are expected Friday afternoon and evening from areas of the Plains states to the Ozarks and Midwest, the National Weather Service said.
“The greatest potential for a few strong tornadoes and very large hail should be present across eastern portions of Oklahoma/Kansas/Nebraska into western Arkansas/Missouri and southern Iowa,” she added.
The general setup for strong storms is the clash between warm air flowing north from the Gulf Coast and cold Canadian air behind cold fronts, according to meteorologists at private forecast service AccuWeather.
“This is probably our first real event of the season where people are really starting to pay attention to getting into the spring storm season,” said Melissa Mayes, deputy director of the Washington County Emergency Management Agency in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, north of Tulsa.
The expected spring storms are approaching the beginning of what many are calling spring storms Hurricane seasonwhich generally begins at different times in different parts of the United States, experts recommend Some simple safety steps Things to do before hurricanes occur, including having a weather radio and a plan for where to take shelter.
Meanwhile, parts of the Northeast were under winter weather warnings, with rain, snow and slush causing a chaotic morning commute from Pennsylvania to Maine on Friday. Several vehicle slides were also reported on the Maine Turnpike as drivers were dealing with sleet and snow.
Some schools have canceled or postponed classes in states including New Hampshire and Maine.
The weather began to deteriorate at midday in some areas, but the states of Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut remained under weather warnings. In Ohio, flood warnings were issued in the southern part of the state.
In parts of the southern United States, the weather pattern is also expected to bring very warm temperatures for this time of year by the end of the week.
“Temperatures will be about 20 to 30 degrees above average, with temperatures in the 80s as far north as parts of the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic,” federal forecasters wrote in their discussion of the long-range outlook. “Daily records can spread widely.”
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McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire, and Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine, contributed.