Winds shred Southern Plains, California to see more snow

Oklahoma City, The Gulf Observer: Parts of the Southern Plains counted the injured and surveyed the damage Monday after tornadoes and other powerful winds swept through, while some Michigan residents faced a fifth consecutive day without power following last week’s ice storm.

In California, the National Weather Service said a series of winter storm systems will continue moving into the state through Wednesday after residents got a brief break from severe weather Sunday.

Parts of the Northeast that have seen little snow this winter were under a winter storm warning. And forecasters warned of continued high winds in parts of the Plains and of thunderstorms and possible tornadoes in the Ohio Valley.

BLIZZARD WARNING IN CALIFORNIA
Blizzard warnings began going into effect Monday in the Sierra Nevada range as more rounds of rain and snow entered California from the north and moved south.

The new series of storms arrived even as parts of the state were still digging out from last week’s powerful storm, which added to a massive snowpack left by a siege of “atmospheric rivers” in December and January.

In the Sierra, Yosemite National Park announced it would be closed until midweek, and numerous roads were closed in Sequoia National Park. Trans-Sierra highways were subject to closures and chain requirements.

East of Los Angeles, all roads leading up to San Bernardino Mountain resort communities around Big Bear Lake remained closed because of last week’s huge snowfall. One route leading down to the Mojave Desert was open only to downhill traffic. In the San Gabriel Mountains, roads remained closed to the Mountain High resort, where the storm dumped 7 3/4 feet (2 1/2 meters) of snow.

Suburban Santa Clarita, in hills north of Los Angeles, received its first significant snowfall since 1989.

“We went outside and we let our sons play in the snow,” resident Cesar Torres told the Santa Clarita Signal. “We figured, while the snow’s there, might as well make a snowman out of it.”

NORTHEAST SNOWSTORM

While not expecting a blockbuster storm by regional standards, southern New England braced for what could be the most significant snowfall of what has so far been a mild winter.

A winter storm warning covered parts of the Northeast, including Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island, with heavy snow forecast for Monday evening through Tuesday afternoon.

Boston could get 5 inches and a messy Tuesday morning commute, according to the weather service. As much as 10 inches could fall in western Massachusetts, northwest Connecticut and southern Vermont.

MICHIGAN ICE STORM
In Michigan, crews continued to work to restore electricity. Leah Thomas, whose home north of Detroit lost power Wednesday night, finally got her power back late Sunday afternoon.

Thomas said she feels lucky that she and their 17-year-old son were able to stay at her parents’ nearby home, which still had power, while they are in Florida.

With her husband traveling out of town, Thomas said it was up to her to recharge the battery to their home’s backup sump pump Sunday with her car. She went to multiple stores to find a long cable for the task.

Although her basement didn’t flood during the outage, Thomas said Monday morning that she lost all the food in her refrigerator, including about $200 worth of prepared meals she had in her freezer. She said she would have moved her food to her parents’ freezer but did not because DTE Energy had repeatedly notified her that her home’s power would be back on soon.

Instead, it took nearly four days for the power to be restored.

“We did lose all our food because we didn’t realize the outage was going to be so long. DTE kept telling us the power would be back the same day,” Thomas said.

With the local school district on midwinter break, she said, some of their neighbors have been out of town and will return to find a mess from burst water pipes and flooded basements.

“They don’t know what they’re coming home to,” she said.

In Michigan, parts of which were still reeling from the ice storm and high winds, more than 144,000 customers remained without power early Monday, according to PowerOutage.us.