Severe storms pummel parts of US with snow and high winds and raise
tornado threat
[March 16, 2026]
By SOPHIA TAREEN, GARY D. ROBERTSON and MATTHEW BROWN
CHICAGO (AP) — Successive punches of snow and wind were set to impact
the eastern half of the United States on Monday as severe weather swept
across much of the nation and made roads impassable in the Upper
Midwest.
Forecasters said mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C., were at
greatest risk for high winds and tornadoes. The cold front was expected
to move off the East Coast by Tuesday, bringing sharply colder weather
in its wake, forecasters said.
The late winter blast comes as Hawaii continued to be affected by a
separate storm system that caused severe flooding over the weekend.
Forecasters warn about line of storms, tornadoes
The National Weather Service that warned a line of severe storms with
damaging winds would cross much of the Eastern U.S. After firing up
Sunday, the storms were crossing the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio
valleys.
The storm threat was expected to enter the Appalachians, then move
toward the East Coast, where “severe thunderstorms with widespread
damaging winds and several tornadoes” were expected, the service said.
A stretch from parts of South Carolina to Maryland appeared most likely
to experience the greatest damaging winds Monday afternoon, the weather
service said. That could include Raleigh, North Carolina, Richmond,
Virginia, and the nation’s capital.
Officials said schools in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, would
be closed Monday. Gov. Josh Stein urged residents to enable emergency
alerts on their phones ahead of expected wind gusts of 74 mph (119 kph).
Beyond the threat to lives and property, “whether it’s wind gusts from a
squall line, blizzard or snow, or just wind because of the storm, you’re
looking at several major airports being impacted,“ said AccuWeather
senior meteorologist Tyler Roys.
Big snows in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan
An area from central Wisconsin to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was likely
to see over 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow, with higher isolated totals
on the peninsula, Roys said. Lower snow accumulations in places such as
Chicago and Milwaukee will likely create trouble for commuters on
Monday, he added.
Jim Allen, 45, who lives on the Upper Peninsula, said his family stocked
up on necessities and he was ready to clear snow several times Sunday
with a shovel and snowblower.
“We’re basically prepared to just kind of hunker down for a few days if
we need to,” Allen said.
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Malcolm and Lincoln firefighters respond to a wildfire in Denton,
Neb., on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Kenneth Ferriera/Omaha
World-Herald via AP)
More than 600 flights were canceled at Minneapolis-Saint Paul
International Airport, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight
disruptions. Dozens more through Detroit were scrapped. O'Hare and
Midway international airports in Chicago reported more than 850
cancellations.
Power outages remain, some from earlier high winds
More than 210,000 utility customers in six Great Lakes states were
without electricity Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. Some
originated on Friday when gusts in the region reached 85 mph (137
km). Widespread outages also were reported in parts of Pennsylvania
and Arkansas.
In Nebraska, about 30 National Guard members were deployed to combat
multiple wildfires across a broad swath of range and grassland,
state officials said. One fire-related fatality was reported.
Landslides, rescues, collapsed home on Maui
Rain continued falling on Sunday in Hawaii, where acres of farmland
and homes have been flooded, roads have been closed and shelters
opened. Some areas of Maui received more than 20 inches (51
centimeters) of rain, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a
social media post.
Maui County later on Sunday downgraded an evacuation notice and said
crews were pumping water from retentions basins to keep them at safe
levels.
Resident and real estate broker Jesse Wald, who recorded video of a
coastal road’s collapse Saturday, said other parts of the road were
flooded out by mud and sediment.
“In the 20 years I’ve been here I’ve never seen this much rain,” he
said.
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Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press
writers Julie Walker in New York and Matthew Brown in Billings,
Montana, also contributed to this report.
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