Severe weather wreaked havoc across the United States on Tuesday, leaving at least five people dead and hundreds of thousands without power. The storms, featuring snow, rain, wind, thunder, and cold temperatures, impacted regions including the Pacific Northwest, the Plains, the Gulf Coast, the South, and the mid-Atlantic.
Winter weather alerts covered a vast area, affecting 164 million people, with warnings ranging from freeze alerts to tornado alerts.
Many parts of the country were under winter weather advisories, cautioning residents about freezing rain and potential hazards, or winter storm warnings, indicating the likelihood of several inches of snow or sleet.
Even Hawaii faced challenging weather conditions, with flash flooding reported by the Maui County Emergency Management Agency. Rainfall rates reached up to 1 inch per hour, and a high wind warning for the Big Island of Hawaii was expected to persist overnight.
The storm’s impact was felt on the energy front, with over 600,000 customers losing power along a contiguous path from Florida to New York.
Multiple tornadoes were reported in Florida and South Carolina, where the clash of cold and warm air masses triggered thunderstorms and high-wind vortexes, according to federal forecasters.
