A storm system sweeps across the Southeast triggering tornado watches
and damaging winds
[February 16, 2026]
ATLANTA (AP) — A weekend storm system sweeping across the
Southeast brought tornado warnings to Mississippi and Louisiana, and
then took aim at parts of Georgia and Florida, as people in the
Northeast were finally getting a reprieve from weeks of bitterly cold
temperatures.
Some of the fiercest weather in the South was reported near Lake
Charles, Louisiana, where high winds from a thunderstorm overturned a
horse trailer and a Mardi Gras float, damaged an airport jet bridge and
flung the metal awning from a house into power lines. The damage was
documented by National Weather Service employees who surveyed the area.
Power poles were snapped and toppled near the Louisiana towns of Jena,
Cheneyville and Donaldsonville, the weather service reported.
No deaths or serious injuries were reported, but the damage reports came
as the storm system continued into parts of south Georgia and the
Florida Panhandle, which were under tornado watches on Sunday.
The storms led to some power outages across southern states, but nowhere
near the massive number of outages caused by ice storms late last month
in northern Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee. By Sunday evening, a
few thousand customers were still without electricity in Florida,
Louisiana, Kentucky and Virginia, according to PowerOutage.us, which
tracks outages nationwide.
Meanwhile, the Northeast was beginning to thaw after a weekslong stretch
of uncommonly cold weather.
Boston was running nearly 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 14 Celsius) below
average for February last week, and the city was on pace for its coldest
winter in more than a decade. Boston remained cold on Sunday, but this
week’s forecast called for temperatures climbing into the high 30s and
low 40s, which is closer to the seasonal average.
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Visitors take in city views at Hyde and Lombard streets as rain
begins to soak the Bay Area, in San Francisco, Sunday, Feb. 15,
2026. (Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
On the West Coast, much of California braced for a powerful winter
storm that was expected to bring drenching thunderstorms, damaging
winds and heavy snow in mountain areas. Jacob Spender, a weather
service meteorologist in Sacramento, urged people to take
precautions in the coming days.
“So if they are traveling, packing winter safety kits. Anything to
be prepared. This is a bigger system, and a major system,” Spender
said.
Rain that began Sunday in the San Francisco Bay Area was forecast to
intensify throughout the day and overnight, bringing the risk of
flooding. Forecasters said the Sierra Nevada, including ski resorts
around Lake Tahoe, could see up to seven feet (two meters) of snow
before the storm moves through late Wednesday.
To the south, Los Angeles area residents in some neighborhoods
scarred by last year's devastating wildfires were under an
evacuation warning through Tuesday because of the potential for mud
and debris flows. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she's ordered
emergency crews and city departments to prepare to respond to any
problems.
—-
Associated Press journalists Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; Julie
Walker in New York City; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; and
Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.
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