Weather

Midwest Storm Photos: Hurricane-Force Winds, Storms Ravage States

Five people are dead after a storm system swept across the Midwest amid unseasonable warmth, bringing tornadoes to the upper Plains.

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Dust from heavy winds obscures the sun in Hodgeman County in Jetmore, Kansas.
Dust from heavy winds obscures the sun in Hodgeman County in Jetmore, Kansas. (Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP)

ACROSS AMERICA — At least five people are dead after severe and unusual weather swept through the Midwest on Wednesday, bringing hurricane-force winds and spawning multiple tornadoes in Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.

The destructive weather came amid unprecedented warmth for December in the Plains and northern states. Temperatures rose to 70 degrees Fahrenheit across southwestern Wisconsin by 8 p.m. Wednesday.

"I can say with some confidence that this event (the heat and tornadoes) is among the most (if not THE most) anomalous weather event ever on record for the Upper Midwest," The Weather Company historian Chris Burt wrote in a Facebook post, according to an Associated Press report.

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There were more than 20 tornado reports in the Plains states Wednesday, based on preliminary reports to the Storm Prediction Center. The day also saw the most reports of hurricane-force wind gusts — 75 mph or higher — of any day since 2004, the center told The AP.

More than 400,000 homes and businesses were without electricity Thursday morning in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Kansas, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.

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In southeastern Minnesota, a 65-year-old man was killed when a 40-foot tree blew onto him outside his home. In southwestern Kansas, blinding dust kicked up by the storms led to two separate crashes that killed three people. And in eastern Iowa, a semitrailer hit by high winds Wednesday evening rolled onto its side on southbound U.S. Highway 151, killing the driver, the Iowa State Patrol told the AP.

In Minnesota, the town of Hartland — where there were reports of an unconfirmed tornado —suffered some of the worst damage from the storm.

The storm was shifting north of the Great Lakes into Canada on Thursday, with high winds, snow and hazardous conditions continuing in the upper Great Lakes region, the National Weather Service told the AP.

See some stunning photos of the storm's damage:

Members of the Colorado Springs Utilities Catamount crew remove a fallen tree that crushed a car driving westbound on Unitah Street in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)
Debris from nearby farm fields swirls around Highway 400 between Mullinville, Kansas, and Dodge City. (Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP)
The Hodgeman County undersheriff confirmed these grain bins were blown into a cornfield from a farm near Jetmore, Kansas. (Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP)
Visibility was less than a half-mile in Jetmore, Kansas. (Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP)
Deer stand in a field near a wildfire near Ness City, Kansas. (Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP)

A calf grazes in a pasture along near a fire that burned 365,850 acres and stretched across Ellis, Russell, Osborne and Rooks counties. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
The setting sun is shrouded in smoke from a fire. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Fires continue to burn in a pasture. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Grassland burns as the moon rises in the distance. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Ranch hand Erik Vazquez clears debris from a barn after it was destroyed by a grassfire which also destroyed a house on the property near Paradise, Kansas. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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