At Least 1 Dead As NWS Warns Of ‘Blizzard Conditions’ Through Thursday

Severe weather continues across the South and Midwest, and on the third day of thunderstorms and tornadoes sweeping the country, at least one person was reported dead. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned that “blizzard conditions” are expected through Thursday.

Speaking with weather.com, Stephen McClellan Emergency Management Director in Cleveland County, Arkansas, said a 20-year-old woman died after a tree fell on a mobile home in Rison on Tuesday evening. McClellan said the woman “was already deceased on the scene” when rescue teams arrived, while two other people who were at the said mobile residence were able to escape to safety.

Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas experienced widespread power outages. In its latest update on outages across Kentucky, outage tracker PowerOutage.US, reported that 56,700 customers had no power as of Wednesday evening. In Texas, about 21,839 residences had no power, while 60,116 Mississippi customers experienced an outage Wednesday night. Residences with no power in Tennessee were reported at 36,892.

At least 23 people were reported to have suffered injuries after a tornado struck near Salado, a town in Bell County, Texas, on Tuesday evening. One of the injured was in critical condition Wednesday, NBC News reported. Bell County Judge David Blackburn told reporters that large trees were downed by the tornado that was confirmed by the NWS Tuesday.

On its homepage, the NWS said a “powerful Spring storm will continue to bring blizzard conditions to the northern Plains into Thursday.” In its extended forecast, the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) also projected “a gradually amplifying shortwave trough and associated rain/snow focusing system progressing into and through the West during the weekend onward to the north-central U.S. by early next week.”

Meanwhile, the following warnings have been issued:

Blizzard Warning (effective through Thursday evening):

• Parts of northwest and central North Dakota
• Parts of southwest and south central North Dakota
• Dawson, Richland, Prairie, Sheridan, Eastern Roosevelt and Wibaux Counties (through Thursday morning)

High Wind Warning (effective through Wednesday midnight)

• Parts of southwestern, south central and northwestern South Dakota
• Tribal Lands of the Cheyenne River Reservation
• Pine Ridge Reservation
• Rosebud Reservation
• Some parts of north central and central South Dakota (through Thursday morning)
• Some parts of northeast South Dakota and west central Minnesota (through Thursday evening)

Flood Warning:

• Paint River at Crystal Falls in Marquette, Michigan (through Friday morning)
• Sturgeon River near Alston, Michigan (through Friday evening)
• White River at Clarendon, Arkansas (until further notice)
• Big Black River near Bentonia, Mississippi (until further notice)

Gale Warning:

• Winthrop Harbor to Calumet Harbor in Illinois, Chicago (through Thursday morning)
• Michigan City, Indiana (through Thursday morning)

Winter Weather Advisory (effective through Thursday morning):

• Treasure, Powder River, Southern Rosebud and Northern Rosebud in Billings, Montana
• Custer in Billings, Montana