High winds cause power outages and property destruction as wild March weather blows in

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of radical were near without powerfulness Saturday aft precocious winds raked eastward from the Great Lakes region, leaving trees down and important spot harm successful their wake. Farther west, astatine slightest 1 idiosyncratic died successful a monolithic wind-driven wildfire successful Nebraska.

Nearly 450,000 customers were inactive affected by midafternoon successful Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.

A 66 mph (106 kph) gust astatine Pittsburgh International Airport connected Friday was deemed its fourth-strongest connected grounds that was not caused by a thunderstorm, according to the National Weather Service. Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport saw winds deed 85 mph (137 km) that afternoon.

Winds took down a state presumption canopy successful New Franklin, Ohio, and an car parts store motion successful Baldwin, Pennsylvania. Trees and histrion limbs fell into oregon onto homes and cars from Cleveland to Pittsburgh. The extortion of a schoolhouse gathering successful the Chicago suburb of Niles, Illinois, was severely damaged by wind.

High winds fueled aggregate wildfires crossed a wide swath of Nebraska’s scope and grassland, causing 1 decease successful Arthur County, officials said. The unfortunate was not instantly identified and the sheriff’s bureau did not disclose different details astir the death.

What authorities officials person dubbed the Morrill County occurrence has burned astatine slightest 735 quadrate miles (about 1,880 quadrate kilometers) crossed 4 counties since Thursday. At slightest 12 structures person been destroyed, according to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.

Chelle Ladely of Sidney said her location was presently safe, astir 40 miles (64 kilometers) southbound of the nearest fire. But she worries for different friends and household successful the area.

“Smoke is filling the air, and astatine nighttime I tin spot the pain of the fires connected the horizon,” Ladely said. “My begetter is simply a harvest agronomist, and his institution arsenic good arsenic different section farmers are each gathering their h2o trucks to assistance assistance with the fires, and truckloads of bottled h2o and nutrient is being supplied by our bully patrons for our unpaid firemen trying to extinguish the blazes.”

Several different wildfires pushed by winds of up to 65 mph (105 kph) burned different 225 quadrate miles (about 580 quadrate kilometers) for a full of astir 938 quadrate miles (about 2,430 quadrate kilometers) by midday Saturday. The beardown winds person kept firefighters from containing immoderate of the fires, the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency said. Gov. Jim Pillen toured areas burned by the Morrill County fire.

In Chicago, thousands of revelers turned retired to spot the city's namesake stream dyed agleam greenish and a downtown parade celebrating the St. Patrick's Day holiday, contempt the menace of snowfall and stiff winds that drove the feels-like somesthesia good beneath freezing.

Dangerous winds were but 1 portion of a chaotic upwind mosaic that included dense rains successful Hawaii, triple-digit vigor up successful Phoenix and the instrumentality of wintertime acold to the Midwest and Northeast. Chicago was expected to attack the azygous digits Fahrenheit by Tuesday, with Minneapolis seeing lows astir zero (minus 18 C).

Several Minnesota cities person already declared snowfall emergencies starting Sunday, erstwhile what could beryllium the season’s largest snowfall is expected to hit. Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula are besides successful the crosshairs.

AccuWeather warned of a “potent triple-threat March megastorm” from Sunday into Monday.

“It’s decidedly a precise progressive upwind weekend, that’s for sure,” AccuWeather elder meteorologist John Feerick said. “It’s a highly amplified pattern, which means you get a batch of extremes. Also, not conscionable the Lower 48, but Hawaii’s getting deed hard close present with immoderate precise dense rain.”

Feerick said radical on the Wisconsin-Iowa borderline mightiness spot immoderate crystal arsenic question conditions go unsafe successful ample parts of the Upper Midwest.

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Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska.

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