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U.S. NEWS Thursday 11 april 2019

Bomb cyclone storm hammering central U.S., disrupting travel

Continued from Front wildfire and travel condi- pack on frozen ground this
tions in New Mexico, Tex- time around.
“It’s essentially a thunder- as and Oklahoma. The Even moderate rises in
storm, but it’s cold enough weather service issued a the Missouri River will push
for snow,” Connelly said. high wind warning for the more water into drenched
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Texas and Oklahoma pan- Fremont County in south-
Noem closed state govern- handles. Winds in excess of western Iowa, Emergency
ment offices in 52 counties. 50 mph (80.46 kph) were Manager Mike Crecelius
Numerous schools around combining with low humid- said. Last month’s flooding
the state closed, along with ity and an unstable atmo- swamped 455 houses and
several Black Hills National sphere to create critical thousands of acres of farm-
Forest offices in western fire conditions in the three land in his region.
South Dakota and eastern states. Forecasters in New “The problem is that we’re
Wyoming. Mexico said the winds also not getting any time for
Nebraska Gov. Pete Rick- would make travel difficult the water to recede and
etts extended five weath- on north-south oriented things to dry out, so the le-
er-related executive orders roads such as Interstate vees can’t be fixed; houses This March 2019 photo provided by Henry Red Cloud, shows
flooding on Cloud’s Lakota Solar Enterprises property on the
until May 15 to help com- 25. In southern New Mex- can’t be fixed; crops can’t Pine Ridge Reservation in southern South Dakota.
munities gain fast access ico, the U.S. Army’s White be planted,” he said.q Associated Press
to the state’s emergency Sands Missile Range closed
resources. Minnesota Gov. Wednesday because of
Tim Walz said “the National the high winds. The storm
Guard stands ready” to res- technically met the scientif-
cue any stranded motorists. ic definition of what’s com-
The weather service posted monly known as a “bomb
an ice storm warning into cyclone,” said David Roth,
Friday morning for a por- a forecaster at the Na-
tion of southern Minnesota, tional Weather Service’s
saying up to three-fourths Weather Prediction Center
of an inch of ice could ac- in Maryland.
cumulate on power lines, The weather phenomenon
leading to outages. with a complex scientific
To the west, the looming definition essentially entails
spring blizzard in the Rock- a rapid drop in air pressure
ies was impacting flights, and a storm strengthening
school classes, govern- explosively. What is more
ment functions and even important than the term is
baseball. the storm’s impacts, which
Major League Baseball’s are likely to be similar to last
Colorado Rockies post- month’s storm , Roth said.
poned an afternoon game That blast dropped heavy
against the Atlanta Braves snow and led to massive
until August. Many school flooding in the Midwest that
districts in Colorado and caused billions of dollars in
Wyoming canceled or damage in Nebraska, Mis-
shortened classes. Local souri, Iowa and South Da-
governments, including in kota. “Hopefully this time it
Denver and Cheyenne, will be a slow snowmelt,”
Wyoming, and state gov- Roth said.
ernment in the Denver area Forecasters said this week’s
closed offices early. storm will swell rivers again,
Strong winds associated though likely not to the lev-
with the weather system els seen last month due to
were creating dangerous the absence of a wet snow-