Further inclement weather, including tornadoes, threatened parts of the southern and midwestern United States on Tuesday and Wednesday that were pummeled by deadly storms just days ago.
Bad weather targeted Missouri, southwestern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas, among others. A high risk of fire hovered further south and west.
The Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois was lashed Tuesday morning by 90-mile-per-hour gusts and pounded by baseball-sized hailstones. No injuries were reported, but trees were uprooted and some businesses damaged.
About 23,000 people were without power in Illinois as of Tuesday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us.
In the Upper Midwest region, tornado risk was particularly pronounced in the afternoon and evening on Wednesday. Parts of Missouri and Arkansas will be threatened overnight.
Severe storms could produce powerful tornadoes and large hailstones Wednesday in eastern Illinois, lower Michigan and the Ohio Valley.
Sections of Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas are also threatened.
Tornadoes swept through 11 states last week, killing at least 32.
The same conditions that fueled last week’s storms — an area of low pressure combined with strong southerly winds — will prevail Tuesday and Wednesday, meteorologists warned.
A blizzard warning was in effect for nearly all of the two Dakotas through Wednesday evening. The US National Weather Service has predicted that parts of South Dakota could receive up to 40 centimeters of snow and be swept by winds of 90 kilometers per hour.
Dozens of schools were closed in South Dakota on Tuesday, as were the majority of government offices.
A winter storm warning has been issued for northern Minnesota. The south of the state could be the scene of storms that will generate hail and strong winds.
High fire danger was noted in western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, northeastern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado. The weather service reports low humidity, dry vegetation and gusts of 110 kilometers per hour.