One Dead as Storm Brings Hurricane-Force Winds to Great Plains and Midwest

Wednesday saw the most reports of hurricane-force winds in the Plains states since 2004, the Storm Prediction Centre said.

A driver was killed when his semitrailer rolled onto its side after being struck by high winds on southbound Highway 151 in eastern Iowa on Wednesday evening, the Iowa State Patrol reported.

A wave of powerful storms has swept across the Great Plains and Midwest amid unusually warm temperatures, triggering hurricane-force winds of 75mph or higher in Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota.

“To have this number of damaging wind storms at one time would be unusual anytime of year...But to have this happen in December is really abnormal,” Brian Barjenbruch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley, Nebraska, said, as quoted by ABC News.

According to Yale Climate Connections, the unusually warm temperatures on Wednesday were caused due in part by record-high ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.

This comes after several US states including Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, and Kentucky were hit by tornadoes last weekend, claiming the lives of more than 85 people. US President Joe Biden visited Kentucky, where tornadoes have turned out the deadliest, to see the damage and meet with families in the most affected areas.