• Rain-soaked Midwest braces for more flooding

    Residents of Fargo, North Dakota, aren't taking any chances when it comes to Mother Nature after a waterlogged week in the Midwest. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

    By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

    Flood-weary residents in parts of the Midwest were still trying to stem the tide of murky river water Friday, as late snow-melt combined with days of spring rain sent rivers toward high-water records.

    Floodwaters had begun an inch-by-inch retreat in inundated Peoria, Ill., after the Illinois River crested Tuesday at 29.35 feet, eclipsing a 70-year record. In central Indiana, more heavy rain through Wednesday morning prompted a request for voluntary evacuation along the Tippecanoe River near Lafayette.

    The Grand River at Grand Rapids, Mich., which reached record levels, began to fall below flood stage Thursday and some of the hundreds of people evacuated were starting to return home.

    Along the Mississippi, the biggest concern was that the flood is expected to linger into May, potentially straining longstanding earthen levees and hastily-built sandbag walls. No towns were in imminent danger.

    Rain-soaked Chicago had its wettest April on record, the National Weather Service said, according to NBCChicago.com.

    In tiny Dutchtown, Missouri, flooding from the Mississippi has become such a fact of life that residents expressed hope that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would buy them out of their homes.

    Reuters

    Local residents work with soldiers of the 1140th Engineer Battalion to build a sandbag wall near Dutchtown, Missouri, on Wednesday.

    Thousands of sandbags were at the ready in anticipation of a crest Thursday.

    Doyle Parmer, who doubles as town clerk and emergency management chief, told The Associated Press that residents had been "jumping through hoops" for three years seeking a buyout from FEMA as part of a federal program that sees flood-prone areas set aside for green space or a park. The AP said:

    In order for that money to arrive, towns must prove that flooding is frequent and devastating enough for a buyout to be cost-effective, and Dutchtown hasn't filed a suitable one yet, said Melissa Janssen, mitigation branch chief for the FEMA region that includes Missouri.

    Parmer said he and other residents were ready to get out.

    "Sell the house, cut the grass and get the hell out of Dodge," he said.

    For 40 years, Shirley Moss has lived in the same home in the town, but as the sandbags piled up yet again, she didn't hesitate when asked if she would take a government buyout.

    "In a New York minute," Moss said from her double-wide mobile home. "I'm 75 years old — I can't fight this."

    Meanwhile, in North Dakota residents got their first touch of good news on Wednesday when officials said the swollen Red River would crest at lower than anticipated levels next week, the AP reported.

    Residents in Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, have been filling sandbags ahead of the expected fourth major Red River flood in the past five years after unseasonably cold weather delayed the annual thaw.

    But the river was still expected to peak at possibly its second-highest level on record, and flood preparations in the north-central United States follow major flooding on rivers in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Michigan caused by heavy rain, the AP said.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Related:

    This story was originally published on Thu Apr 25, 2013 5:39 AM EDT

  • Flood-hit Midwest braces for more rain, snow flurries

    Homes and businesses are underwater throughout the Midwest as heavy rains cause rivers to rise dangerously high. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

    By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

    Flood-weary homeowners and sandbaggers across the Midwest were braced for record-level river crests Wednesday amid forecasts that rain would add more water to already-swollen rivers.

    Possible snow flurries were also predicted for some flood-hit areas.

    Showers and scattered thunderstorms were expected to move through the lower Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and Kentucky with a cold front into Wednesday afternoon, dumping between half-an-inch and one inch of rain onto ground already soaked by spring moisture and snow-melt, Weather.com meteorologist Kevin Roth said.

    Another storm will drop into the northern Plains and upper Mississippi Valley producing rain and snow showers,

    However, no significant snow accumulations are forecast. NBCChicago.com reported that early low temperatures were likely to rise following an extended period of sunshine.

    Floodwaters were rising to record levels along the Illinois River in central Illinois late Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. In Missouri, six small levees north of St. Louis were overtopped by the surging Mississippi River, though mostly farmland was affected.

    Officials in Peoria on Tuesday said the Illinois River finally had crested, but not without destruction. In Peoria Heights, population 6,700, roads and buildings were flooded and riverfront structures were inundated. Firefighters feared that if fuel from businesses and vehicles starts to leak, it could spark a fire in areas that could be reached only by boat.

    Seth Perlman / AP

    Jennifer Rock uses her cell phone to take photos to send to a friend of flooding from the Illinois River on Tuesday in Spring Bay Ill.

    "That's our nightmare: A building burns, and we can't get to it," Peoria Heights Fire Chief Greg Walters said. "These are combustible buildings, and we have no access to them simply because of the flooding."

    Among those still in their homes was Mark Reatherford. The 52-year-old unemployed baker has lived for decades in the same split-level home with a gorgeous view: a small park between him and the Illinois River. But by Tuesday afternoon, as a chilly rain fell, the river had rolled over the park and made it to Reatherford's home, creating a 3-foot-deep mess in the basement. Reatherford had cleared out the basement furniture and was hopeful the main floor would stay dry.

    Now, he's considering moving.

    "I'm getting too old to deal with this," he told The Associated Press.

    In Saginaw County, Mich., water topped the dyke at Misteguay Creek in Spaulding Township. Businesses and homes were flooded along the Tittabawassee River, a Saginaw River tributary. Part of Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge also was under water.

    The National Weather Service predicted that the Red River in Fargo, North Dakota could set a new record when it crests, possibly later this week, weather.com reported. A cold spring has delayed snow melt in the area.

    A rise in temperatures later this week will accelerate the snow melt across the region, Weather.com said.

    It was a very different picture fort the Northeast Wednesday, where thunderstorms were forecast to give way to sunshine and warm temperatures in metropolitan New York - possibly into the 70s.

    Meanwhile, a storm system was expected to bring thunderstorms through the Southwest Thursday and into the southern Plains and Texas Friday, Roth said. Severe thunderstorms are possible in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas with this storm Friday.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Full coverage from weather.com

    This story was originally published on Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:20 AM EDT

  • Blizzard, possible tornadoes forecast in nasty weather week

    NBC News

    Golf-ball sized hail falls in Rush County, Kan.

    By Kevin Murphy, Reuters

    KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Forecasters called for strong hail and possible tornadoes in western Kansas and a blizzard in four other states on Monday in the first of what are expected to be several days of nasty weather in the middle of the country.

    The blizzard was expected to hit Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming on Monday. An Arctic cold front has triggered winter weather warnings over most of Colorado, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Kalina.

    Much of the country's midsection will face severe storms and a high risk of tornadoes. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Meanwhile, warm air from the south mixing with cold air from Colorado is expected to cause severe weather in western Kansas, including possible tornadoes, said weather service meteorologist Matt Gerard, based in Dodge City, Kansas.

    "It's a clash of air masses going on," Gerard said, adding that forecasts call for large hail in western Kansas.

    Denver and its urban area could get up to 11 inches of snow overnight and through Tuesday, said Kalina. He said temperatures could plunge some 40 degrees from the mid-60s on Monday to well below freezing when the front moves through.

    Areas from Denver to Rapid City, South Dakota; Casper, Wyoming; and Scottsbluff, Nebraska are expected to see blizzard conditions between Monday night and Tuesday, with plunging temperatures, high winds and heavy snow, according to Accuweather.com. The blizzard is forecast to move into north central Nebraska and central Minnesota later Tuesday into Wednesday.

    South Dakota transportation officials advised travelers to move up travel plans to reach intended destinations during daylight hours, and be prepared to stay in until the storm passes. Heavy snowfall is expected, from 3 to 16 inches in the state, with winds up to 40 miles per hour.

    The nasty weather will move toward more populated areas on Tuesday evening, with hail, damaging winds and some possibility of tornadoes predicted around Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas, according to Robert Thompson, lead forecaster with the National Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

    Forecasters expect the front to hit Arkansas Wednesday afternoon and evening, with a line of thunderstorms expected to bring as much as three inches of rain and damaging winds, according to the National Weather Service.

    The tornado season in the United States typically starts in the Gulf Coast states in the late winter, and then moves north with the warming weather, peaking around May and trailing off by July.

    Additional reporting by Suzi Parker in Arkansas, Keith Coffman in Denver and Mary Wisniewski in Chicago

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Forecasters: Old Man Winter finally shuffling out the door

    Brian Snyder / Reuters file

    A forecaster said spring should finally arrive this week, after prolonged wintery weather brought scenes like these in mid-March in Boston.

    By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Much of the northern U.S. may be shivering with some areas 20 degrees below normal, but forecasters said Tuesday this could be the last cold blast until next fall.

    A long winter of punishing blizzards, frightening wind chills and dangerously slippery roads appears to be finally going away, according to Weather.com meteorologists.

    "We had this persistent trough in the East, and winter just wouldn't give up," Dale Eck, director of the Weather Channel's Global Forecast Center, said.

    More from Weather.com

    As the week progresses, a clear trend emerges on National Weather Service forecast maps of daytime highs: Across the nation, the light pink and deep purple associated with below-freezing temperatures all but vanish, replaced by the aquamarine and deep green of the 40s to 60s.

    An unusually cold March meant many areas – the Weather Channel's home in Atlanta, for instance – had colder average temperatures in March than in January.

    "The psychology here is that … people didn't get that taste of spring," he said. "Once you get out of this cold pattern, it's very quickly going to feel very warm and springlike."

    It's not quite over yet. Temperatures will struggle to approach freezing in the Northern Plains on Tuesday, and tapering lake-effect snows are likely to remain for a day or two in areas from the Upper Midwest to Western New York and Pennsylvania.

    Slideshow: Signs of Spring

    Arie Kievit / EPA

    Warming weather and longer days bring out the first signs of Spring.

    Launch slideshow

    The far north remains subject to arctic winds from Canada.

    But the jet stream, which pulls that cold air with it as it makes southern incursions in the U.S., appears to be settling into its northerly position, Eck said.

    "After this current shot of cold air, it looks like the jet stream is going to relax and park itself close to the Canadian border," he said. "That will allow the southern half of the United States to get above average, so that's going to feel different."

    "It's just going to be a major shift."

    Related:

    Baseball's opening day sees a return to winter temperatures

    'It's supposed to be spring': Weather causing March sadness

    US set to shiver through March

     

  • Prosecutor abandons push to execute Punxsutawney Phil for botching spring forecast

    Punxsutawney Phil's handler says he's to blame for the groundhog's botched forecast, saying, "I made the wrong call, I'm sorry for the mistake I made." WJAC's Rich Wisniewski reports.

    By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Punxsutawney Phil is innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt.


    That is the legal opinion of an Ohio prosecutor who on Tuesday abandoned his plan to seek the death penalty against the furry forecaster for blowing it by calling for an early spring.

    The prosecutor dropped his pursuit, which would have caused an international outcry but probably made at least one decent stew, after one of Phil’s handlers, a top-hatted groundhog enthusiast named Bill Deeley, took the fall.

    Phil appeared Feb. 2 and was reported not to have seen his shadow, suggesting an early spring. What the critter actually meant when he appeared at Gobbler’s Knob, it seems, was six more weeks of winter.

    Winter endured well beyond six weeks, as millions of frigid, snow-shoveling, cursing Americans can attest.

    “All my fault,” said Deeley, who volunteered to a local television reporter over the weekend that he had not been drinking. “Misinterpretation by me. I just read him wrong.”

    The prosecutor, Michael T. Gmoser of Butler County, Ohio, told NBC News that it was time to exonerate the groundhog because the handler “stepped up to the burrow and took responsibility.”

    “I always appreciate the acceptance of responsibility in all the criminal cases we handle here,” he said from his office in the city of Hamilton, where it was snowing an hour earlier.

    “We do a lot of serious work here,” he added, almost defensively. “This has been a little lighthearted fun.”

    Butler County Prosecutor's Office

    Michael T. Gmoser, zealous prosecutor.

    Gmoser said he had been persuaded by a sheaf of thorough legal arguments — friend-of-the-groundhog briefs, if you will — turned in by Elana Clavner’s fourth-grade class at Cleveland Community School.

    One of them figures that what Phil really needed was a Hawaiian vacation. Another suggested bagels. Still another warned that Phil might bite the prosecutor.

    “I mean you can’t cancel Groundhog Day,” one child wrote. “How will you get a trained groundhog? Why would you press charges? It’s only one mistake.”

    Another, applying rigorous logic, offered: “Phil is an innocent little groundhog because on the other hand the groundhog can’t predict the weather. It can’t talk.”

    The teacher told the prosecutor in a letter that the students would be happy to serve as attorneys for Phil, and that the letters used their creativity in ways she hadn’t seen all year.

    Earlier:

    Prosecutor sees Punxsutawney Phil pushing daisies for forecast fraud

     

  • More snow coming with much of US set to shiver through March

    Despite the official arrival of spring, a major winter storm was expected to dump more snow from Colorado to the Ohio Valley through Sunday. KUSA-TV's Meagan Fitzgerald reports.

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Despite the official arrival of spring, a major winter storm was expected to dump more snow from Colorado to the Ohio Valley through Sunday, forecasters said, warning much of the U.S. would see unseasonably cold weather through the end of March.

    Michael Palmer, of weather.com, said that the heaviest band of snow over the next 24 hours would move from eastern Colorado through northern Kansas and into Missouri.

    He said Denver was expected to get 5 to 8 inches of snow, with some parts of the High Plains of Colorado and northwest Kansas getting a foot or more.

    Weather Channel's Todd Santos joins Lester Holt with more on the approaching winter storm.

    “Snow, locally heavy, rides eastward along I-70 to Kansas City and St. Louis through Saturday night and Sunday,” Palmer said.

    “The heavier snow, potentially 6 to 12 inches plus, then pounds much of Indiana, northern Kentucky and Ohio Sunday into Sunday night,” he added.

    Soccer game blizzard
    A soccer game between the United States and Costa Rica went ahead Friday night despite the snowy weather. The World Cup 2014 qualifying game was won 1-0 by the U.S. with U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann describing it as "a real snow battle."

    But Reuters reported the Costa Ricans were left fuming over the referee's decision to keep playing through a blizzard. Head coach Jorge Luis Pinto told the news agency that the game was an "embarrassment to football" and midfielder Cristian Bolanos was also irate. "It was robbery, a disgrace, I've never played a game in these conditions," the player said. 

    Palmer said that “very cold air with freezing temps” was expected to last in the East through the end of March.

    “The unseasonably cold March temperatures are locked in place across much of the country for the next week or so,” Palmer said.

    “Most areas will be 10-30 degrees below average with freezing temps extending deep into the South at times,” he added. “The only areas escaping the chill will be parts of Florida and from the Rio Grand Valley into the Desert Southwest.”

    Mark Leffingwell / Reuters

    A soccer match between the U.S. and Costa Rica went ahead Friday despite blizzard conditions in Commerce City, Colorado.

    “Many areas of the Upper Midwest are on track to have a top 5 or top 10 coldest March on record after the warmest March just last year.”

    Palmer also said that the Mid-Atlantic could expected a “wintry mix changing to snow” late Sunday and into Monday.

    “A more northerly track of the system may bring some accumulating snow as far north as New York City on Monday,” he added.

    The Gulf Coast was also expected to see severe storms, generally south of I-20 in east Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida on Saturday into Sunday.

    “Large hail and damaging winds are the primary threats, but isolated tornadoes are still possible,” Palmer said.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

    Related:

    US fights through storm, downs Costa Rica

    How a messy match unfolded, a 'real snow battle'

    Prosecutor sees Punxsutawney Phil pushing daisies for forecast fraud

  • Prosecutor sees Punxsutawney Phil pushing daisies for forecast fraud

    Alex Wong / Getty Images

    Are Punxsutawney Phil's days numbered after an Ohio prosecutor indicted him and said he deserves the death penalty?

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    An Ohio prosecutor says Punxsutawney Phil should be predicting the weather from six feet under.


    With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Michael Gmoser, the prosecuting attorney in Butler County, filed court papers this week indicting the world-famous groundhog for "misrepresentation of early spring" and announcing his intention to seek the death penalty.

    "This is a ground-breaking indictment," Gmoser said Friday as he fielded phone calls from around the world about the light-hearted legal battle. "There's a lot of people who want a piece of him. I know because I'm getting recipes from around the country."

    On Feb. 2, Phil forecast an early spring when he emerged from his Pennsylvania home and did not see his shadow. Six weeks later, Gmoser looked out his window to snow, high winds and frigid air.

    "I said to someone, 'Phil let us down. I ought to indict the little rascal.' They said, 'Why don't you?' and I said, 'I think I will,'" the prosecutor said.

    He said he had to seek the ultimate penalty because otherwise the indictment would have had no teeth.

    Courtesy Butler County prosecutor's office

    Butler County prosecutor Michael Gmoser filed indictment papers against Punxsutawney Phil for falsely predicting an early spring.

    "Phil right now is in jail, behind bars, serving a life sentence. Because of that, there's nothing left for Phil but the death penalty," Gmoser said.

    He was laughing, but sadly, not everyone got the joke.

    "Frankly, I have received a number of phone calls from people who think this is a serious story," he said. "It's a spoof. We do some real serious work regarding rape, murder and mayhem and it's something to lighten the spirits of folks around here."

    Phil could not be reached for comment, but Jeffrey Lundy, vice president of the Punxsutawney Ground Hog Club, said there was no chance of extradition.

    “He's going to have to go through 15 licensed hunters to get to Phil,” Lundy told Triblive.com.

     

  • Drought likely to continue in areas that need rain most this spring

    Charlie Riedel / AP file

    The sun sets behind the downtown Kansas City, Mo. skyline as above average temperatures returned to the region Thursday, March 14, 2013. Government forecasters say much of the United States can expect a warm spring and persistent drought.

    By Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters

    WASHINGTON - Lingering snow and colder-than-normal temperatures in much of the United States will give way to warmer-than-average weather and continued drought in areas that need moisture most, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Thursday in its spring outlook.


    Fifty-one percent of the continental United States is already in moderate to exceptional drought and that is expected to continue in California, the Southwest, the southern Rocky Mountain states, Texas and Florida, NOAA said.

    The Midwest, the northern and central Great Plains, Georgia, the Carolinas and northern Alaska may see some relief from drought during April, May and June.

    That could be an improvement over 2012, when two-thirds of the country experienced drought conditions and the vast majority of the United States saw record-high temperatures.

    The next three months will also bring significant flood risk to North Dakota and northern Minnesota, with moderate flooding possible in the upper Mississippi River basin, including parts of Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri, said Laura Furgione of NOAA's National Weather Service.

    Minor flooding is possible for the lower Mississippi River basin and in the Southeast, including parts of Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia.

    Spring is likely to bring above-normal temperatures to most of the continental United States and northern Alaska, except in the Pacific Northwest, the extreme northern Great Plains and Hawaii, which are expected to be cooler than normal.

    "We have been experiencing a very unusually cold pattern with a jet (stream) far south of normal," Ed O'Lenic of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center told a telephone briefing. "As the sun gets higher in the sky, sooner or later that's got to stop."

    That usually happens by late April, when temperatures are influenced by soils that are then dry and heat up quickly, O'Lenic said. In addition, temperatures in the northern Pacific can influence land temperatures and right now those ocean temperatures are in a relatively warm pattern.

    The El Nino/La Nina pattern of warm or cool water in the equatorial Pacific, which can also have a powerful impact on U.S. weather, "is about as neutral as I've ever seen it," he said. In neutral periods, the influence of El Nino/La Nina on U.S. weather is at its lowest.

    Snowpack this winter has been heavy in the northern United States, but that will not necessarily alleviate the drought in the country's mid-section, O'Lenic said. Five or six years of dry conditions are unlikely to be undone by seasonal precipitation.

    Even this winter's heavy snowpack may not solve the problem, Furgione said.

    Because the ground below the snow is frozen so thoroughly, the warm-up expected in April could make snow-melt run off frozen ground without soaking in, she said.

    The National Weather Service has told the folks along the Red River in Fargo, N.D., and the surrounding area to prepare for perhaps one of the top five floods in that city's history. Weather Channel's Chris Warren reports.

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Has spring really sprung? Snow, chilly temps make it hard to believe

    Temperatures are much lower than normal for this time of year, and yet another winter weather system is in store for the weekend. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

    The first day of spring didn't feel very spring-like for many Americans.


    With snow totals topping 16 inches in parts of New England and temperatures only forecast to reach the teens in parts of the Midwest, Wednesday was decidedly wintry, regardless of the date of the calendar.

    Snow and sleet slammed the Northeast, with lingering snowfall on Wednesday leaving 7 inches in winter-weary Boston, according to weather.com. Parts of New Hampshire saw 16 inches; Maine got a foot.

    Nina Walker, who lives in the Boston suburb of Woburn, told The Associated Press she shoveled about 8 inches of snow off her driveway on Tuesday. Having lived in New England her whole life, she said late-season snowstorms were fine -- but only until March 31.

    "Once I hear the word 'April,' I am really offended when I hear the word 'snow,'" she said. "So this is OK today, but a couple of weeks from now, it had better not happen."

    Read more from weather.com 

     Temperatures battled to get out of the single-digits in Minnesota, reported KARE11.com, an NBC affiliate in Minneapolis-St. Paul. It was the coldest start to spring for Minneapolis in 48 years, the station said.

     In Michigan, 15 inches of snow were reported, which included both lake-effect snow and snow from the same system that had made its way to the Northeast, weather.com said.

     One to six inches more were possible in Michigan and Wisconsin -- which got 11 inches in the north-central part of the state -- and one to three inches were forecast for northern Indiana and northeast Ohio, which were already pummeled by freezing rain and ice this week.

    Winslow Townson / AP

    A pedestrian walks through the campus of Phillips Academy during a winter storm in Andover, Mass., on Tuesday, March 19. Winter went out with a blast in the Northeast on Tuesday, snow and sleet closing schools in some areas and making roads an icy, slippery mess a day before spring starts.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.


     

  • Severe storms, large hail pummel parts of South

    Rogelio V. Solis / AP

    Golfball sized hail litter the ground by Andrew Stamps and his wife Valorie as they prepare to cover their shattered rear window of her 2009 Toyota Avalon in Pearl, Miss., March 18, following a hailstorm that hit communities throughout central Mississippi.

    By Holbrook Mohr, The Associated Press

    JACKSON, Miss. — Severe thunderstorms Monday raked across a wide area of the South, packing strong winds, rain and some baseball-size hail.

    In Mississippi, authorities reported two people were hit on the head by large hail as the enormous storm front crossed the region. Fire official Tim Shanks said baseball-sized hail smashed windows in several vehicles in Clinton, where the two people were hit. He had no immediate word on their condition.

    National Weather Service meteorologist Anna Weber said there were reports of hail the size of softballs in some areas around Jackson.


    "This is the time of year that we get hail storms, but hail this size is pretty rare," Weber said.

    Emergency officials said there were reports of downed trees or other damage in 14 Mississippi counties.

    Roads throughout the Jackson area were littered with broken limbs and pine needles, from the hail driving through trees. Cars could be seen driving along the interstate with broken windows and cracked windshields.

    "What I found interesting is that hail is the threat that we don't talk about that much," said Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jeff Rent. "But you can see how destructive it can be in a short amount of time. We got a tough lesson today."

    Glenn Ezell and his son were putting tarps on the metal roof of their mobile home in Brandon after the storm swept through the area.

    "It started hailing big enough that it come through the roof and broke the sheetrock. It was as big as your fist," he said.

    Millions are under a winter weather advisory as severe storms charge through the South and bring snow to parts of the Great Plains and into the Northeast. Weather Channel meteorologist Eric Fisher reports.

    Meteorologists issued tornado warnings for parts of northwest Georgia and severe thunderstorm warnings around the state.

    Flights were delayed by more than an hour Monday afternoon at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport after officials there ordered a ground stop, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

    Downed trees and high winds were also reported in parts of Alabama and Georgia.

    Georgia Power officials said 73,000 customers were without power Monday night, and of that number, 31,000 were in northwest Georgia.

    Elsewhere, Alabama Power officials said 198,000 customers were without power as of 5 p.m.

    In Tennessee, heavy rain helped firefighters contain a wildfire that burned nearly 60 rental cabins in a resort area outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

    The fire forced up to 200 people who had been staying in cabins in the area to evacuate.

    Fire officials had worried earlier that wind-whipped flames might jump a ridgeline and threaten Pigeon Forge, a popular tourism destination that's home to country star Dolly Parton's amusement park, Dollywood.

    Meanwhile snow was moving across much of the Northeast late Monday messing up traffic as it caught many commuters off guard. And Boston announced all public schools would be closed on Tuesday because of the wintry weather — just the day before the official start of spring.

    Associated Press writer Phillip Lucas contributed to this report from Atlanta.

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Spring nor'easter cuts power to 75,000; around foot of snow in places

    While the weekend rain brought relief to the dry conditions in the Northeast, temperatures in the West hit record highs. Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore reports.

    By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

    A powerful spring storm dumped snow across parts of the Northeast overnight -- including around a foot in at least three places -- and cut power to more than 75,000 customers in Pennsylvania and upstate New York, with more snow expected overnight.


    "Winter storm warnings are in effect from the higher elevations of West Virginia northward to western New York," the National Weather Service stated.

    Most of the snow was falling across upstate New York, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, where the weather service predicted the heaviest snowfall "of over an inch per hour" would occur through midday Monday.

    In addition, flood watches were in effect in parts of eastern New York and northern Maine, the weather service stated.

    Strong winds accompanied the storm overnight, with LaGuardia Airport in New York City recording a 54 mph gust. Winds hit 40 mph in Boston and 44 in Groton, Conn.

    By early Monday morning, 10 inches of snow was reported in Newfield, in western New York near Ithaca, while 5 inches had fallen in Boswell, Pa., weather.com reported.

    Sylvania, Pa., later reported 11 inches of snow, while Laurel Summit, Pa., saw nearly 14 inches.

    "Snowfall amounts of 6 to 12 inches with localized amounts as high as 15 inches will be possible across areas from the higher terrain of West Virginia and western Maryland northward to the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in New York," the weather service stated.

    The heavy snow was weighing down trees, some of which snapped and cut power lines.

    Leaves on trees are "three to four weeks ahead of schedule because of the exceptionally warm winter and spring" prior to the storm, the Weather Channel's Eric Fisher reported for NBC's TODAY show. "That acts like a net to collect this heavy, wet snow."

     

    Some 25,000 power outages were reported in New York state by noon. "Outage numbers are likely to continue climb as the storm is moving slowly," Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office said in a statement.

    Pennsylvannia reported 50,000 outages.

    In western Pennsylvania, some schools were closed Monday morning, the Associated Press reported.

    Weather.com noted that while Northeast snow in the past has "fallen well into the month of May in many locations from western New York to West Virginia, snowfall this heavy, so late in the season is rare."

    Buffalo, N.Y., for example, has seen 10 calendar days of an inch or more snow after April 22, according to records that date back to 1884. But it has seen only three calendar days after April 22 with at least four inches of snow.

    On Sunday, the storm moved in with heavy rain, prompting the Boston Red Sox to postpone a night game against the New York Yankees. In New York City, the scheduled arrival of the space shuttle Enterprise for museum display there was pushed back.

    Slideshow: Spring is in the air!

    Diego Azubel / EPA

    Launch slideshow

    The precipitation should help ease what was a spreading drought in the Northeast.

    "We're down 7 or 8 inches," weather service forecaster Charlie Foley told the Associated Press. "This won't completely wipe out the deficit but it will certainly help."

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

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  • Nor'easter to pound East Coast with rain, snow

    Flood watches are in effect across the Northeast, as far south as Delaware. Two to four inches of rain could flood roads. The Weather Channel's Kelly Cass reports.

    By msnbc.com and news services

    Heavy rains and snow will pound the eastern United States into Monday, possibly leading to downed trees, power outages and flight delays as a low pressure system from the Gulf of Mexico moves through the region.


    Intense precipitation from the Nor'easter storm started Sunday morning, with two to four inches of downpour expected along the Mid-Atlantic Coast, which will make for soggy conditions in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

    As for snow, "the areas of concern are western New York, western Pennsylvania, extreme eastern Ohio, parts of northern West Virginia and extreme western Maryland," weather.com reported. Buffalo and Pittsburgh could see six inches or so, while more than a foot is possible in higher elevations.

    "It's going to a very, very intense Nor'easter," said Michael Eckert, senior branch forecaster with the National Weather Service based in Camp Springs, Md.

    "Snowfall rates may exceed 1" per hour Sunday night into early Monday, accompanied by thunder and lightning," weather.com added.

    "The weather will be going downhill during the day on Sunday," Eckert said.

    On Sunday night, the inland side of the weather system will see an influx of cold air, as falling rain morphs into heavy snow that will blanket western parts of New York state and Pennsylvania, as well as West Virginia, he said.

    Heavy snow could lead to downed branches and even trees. As a result, forecasters expect broken power lines and widespread outages in some areas.

    PhotoBlog: Spring Nor'easter to soak Mid-Atlantic states

    With the storm came a spate of disruptions. Pro baseball games were postponed in New York and Washington. The space shuttle Enterprise's scheduled arrival in New York City was pushed back. An Earth Day celebration at a park in Virginia Beach, Va., was canceled.

    This weather pattern would produce a blizzard if it had come in January, but because the spring air is warmer the storm is not expected to be as severe, Eckert said.

    Nevertheless, airports in New York, Boston and Philadelphia could see flight delays on Monday due to the storm, said Eckert.

    On Saturday, Minnesota had a few small tornadoes that struck in the western half of the state, the National Weather Service said. They caused no injuries but damaged barns near the town of Milan and to a flower shop in Lucan, said Weather Service meteorologist Bryon Paulson. 

    "We had everything, rain, nickel-sized hail, small tornadoes and snow," he said. 

    The town of Chisholm in northeast Minnesota received nearly 6 inches of snow, after getting a foot a week ago. That followed a mild winter with little snow, he said. 

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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