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Wildfires in Washington state threaten homes, prompt evacuations
Posted by Reuters: Kevin Murphy on July 12th, 2015
Reuters: Two lightning-sparked wildfires roared largely unchecked for a third day on Sunday in north-central Washington state, threatening more than two dozen homes and prompting the evacuation of about 300 dwellings, officials said. The flames have charred nearly 20,000 acres (80 square km) since erupting on Friday in the grass- and brush-covered hills of Douglas County, authorities said. One of the two fires grew out of four separate blazes that later merged into one. No injuries have been reported, but...
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U.S. Midwest bracing for tornadoes, flooding
Posted by Reuters: Kevin Murphy on April 3rd, 2014
Reuters: The central United States braced for strong thunderstorms, heavy rain and possible tornadoes on Thursday from an unstable weather system that has already produced a twister and flooding in Missouri. "There is certainly the potential for some violent storms," said Jayson Gosselin, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in St. Louis. Some homes were damaged and large trees uprooted in the St. Louis suburb of University City when an EF-1 tornado, packing winds of about 100 miles per hour,...
U.S. Plains states brace for more wild weather
Posted by Reuters: Kevin Murphy on April 9th, 2013
Reuters: Residents of the central United States braced for a night of nasty weather on Tuesday, with high wind, rain, sleet, hail and possible tornadoes forecast from north Texas through Nebraska.
Meteorologists said the stormy weather would result from a clash of warm southern air with a cold air mass sweeping through eastern Colorado, where heavy snow in Denver closed the airport and forced the cancellation of 535 flights on Tuesday.
"These are a couple of last hurrahs for winter," said Mike July,...
Plains states hit with second winter storm in a week
Posted by Reuters: Kevin Murphy on February 26th, 2013
Reuters: A potent winter storm bore down on the southern U.S. Plains on Monday, dumping more than a foot of snow and creating blizzard conditions in Oklahoma, Texas and parts of Kansas still digging out from a winter storm last week.
Highways in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and parts of Kansas were closed by the heavy and drifting snow that cut visibility and forced flight cancellations at airports across the region.
A man was killed Monday when his car slid off Interstate 70 in Sherman County,...
Storms on U.S. Plains stir memories of the “Dust Bowl”
Posted by Reuters: Kevin Murphy on December 30th, 2012
Reuters: Real estate agent Mark Faulkner recalls a day in early November when he was putting up a sign near Ulysses, Kansas, in 60-miles-per-hour winds that blew up blinding dust clouds.
"There were places you could not see, it was blowing so hard," Faulkner said.
Residents of the Great Plains over the last year or so have experienced storms reminiscent of the 1930s Dust Bowl. Experts say the new storms have been brought on by a combination of historic drought, a dwindling Ogallala Aquifer underground...