The United States on Wednesday registered the highest number of hurricane-force gusts on record in a single day, the National Weather Service (NWS) said, days after one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.
A semitrailer struck by high winds rolled onto its side on southbound U.S. Highway 151 in eastern Iowa on Wednesday evening as severe weather moved through the area, killing the driver, the Iowa State Patrol said, per the Associated Press.
More than 55 gusts of above 75mph (121kph) were recorded across a number of mostly Midwestern states, the NWS Storm Prediction Center said in a tweet, citing data up to 10:00 p.m. Central Time. The Center also registered 19 tornadoes.
There were more than 20 tornado reports Wednesday in the Plains states, scattered through eastern Nebraska and Iowa. The day also saw the most reports of hurricane-force wind gusts — 75 mph (120 kph) or higher — of any day since 2004, the center said.
“To have this number of damaging wind storms at one time would be unusual anytime of the year,” said Brian Barjenbruch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley, Nebraska. “But to have this happen in December is really abnormal.”
The strong winds also whipped up dust that reduced visibility to zero west of Wakeeney, Kansas, the state Department of Transportation said, and caused at least four semitrailers to blow over.
Over 400,000 homes and businesses were without electricity Thursday morning in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kansas, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
Today, the storm is forecast to shift to the north of the Great Lakes into Canada, with high winds, snow, and hazardous conditions continuing in the upper Great Lakes region, the National Weather Service said.
Scientists say extreme weather events and warmer temperatures, much like what’s happening, are more likely to occur with human-caused climate change, reports ABC News.
However, attributing a specific event like this storm system to global warming requires specific analysis and computer simulations that take time. This is why specific ingredients in a weather event need to be looked at closely.
“I think we also need to stop asking the question of whether or not this event was caused by climate change. All events nowadays are augmented by climate change,” said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini. “We need to be asking, `To what extent did climate change play a role and how likely was this event to occur in the absence of climate change?’”
