Powerful US storms create blizzard conditions and threaten to spawn tornadoes

Snowploughs were called in to help free stuck drivers in Minneapolis. Picture: AP

Powerful storms that killed two people in Mississippi and ripped roofs from buildings in a small Oklahoma town have charged across America, threatening more communities in the central to eastern United States.

Meanwhile, forecasters warned that a Pacific storm was expected to bring widespread rain and mountain snow across California and other parts of the West from Wednesday into Friday.

A tornado watch was issued on Wednesday morning for parts of North and South Carolina until early afternoon.

Tornado warnings were issued in Florida and South Carolina on Wednesday morning.

There was a warning over more stormy weather (Omaha World-Herald via AP)

On Tuesday, high winds forced some changes to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which moved up and shortened the two biggest parades to wrap them up ahead of the bad weather.

Tornadoes touched down on Tuesday in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, according to preliminary information from the US National Weather Service.

In Mississippi, two people died due to the severe weather, governor Tate Reeves said in a social media post.

WAPT-TV reported that one person died from a falling power line in Madison County, while a driver in the same county was killed by a tree falling on his car.

On Wednesday morning, Nebraska officials warned that travel was not advised in the eastern part of the state, where high winds were limiting visibility.

A 130-mile stretch of Interstate 80 was closed from Greenwood to Grand Island, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

This video is from Papillion, NE tonight where the local NWS blizzard warning in effect until Wednesday morning reads:
“Blizzard conditions expected. Total snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches expected. Winds gusting as high as 65 mph. Flash freeze expected.”

Get your latest,… pic.twitter.com/xnMJ197zCt

— National Weather Service (@NWS) March 5, 2025

Blizzard conditions in parts of southern Minnesota made travel there dangerous Wednesday morning, the weather service office in the Twin Cities warned on social media.

Heavy snow and strong northerly winds slowed travel across much of the Twin Cities, southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, the weather service said.

The storms have left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity service on Wednesday morning across the central and south-eastern United States, including more than 111,000 customers in Texas, about 54,000 in Tennessee and about 53,000 in Alabama, according to PowerOutage.us.

After more than 850 flights were cancelled nationwide on Tuesday, the storm was beginning to snarl traffic at some of America’s busiest airports on the East Coast, which typically causes ripple effects throughout the nation’s commercial aviation system.

Nearly 500 flights scheduled to fly into or out of US airports on Wednesday have been cancelled, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks cancelations and delays nationwide.