Reuters, by Shivam Patel: Record-breaking winds tore through the United States on Wednesday and early Thursday, causing the highest number of hurricane-force gusts in a single 24-hour period since at least 2004, the National Weather Service said, days after one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.
More than 61 gusts of above 75 miles per hour (121 km per hour) were recorded across a number of mostly Midwestern states from 6 a.m. CST to 6 a.m. CST on Thursday, according to the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center. The Norman, Oklahoma-based center also recorded 19 tornadoes.
“It’s certainly an unprecedented event,” said meteorologist Matt Elliot, who coordinates weather warnings for the center.
Previously, in data going back to 2004, the most hurricane-force gusts in a single day was 53 on Aug. 10, 2020, Elliot said. Colleagues were collating data from earlier than 2004, and expected the record to hold, he said.
Wednesday’s severe weather caused multiple power outages and disruption at Kansas City International Airport in Missouri, as well as reports of wildfires. More than 450,000 homes and businesses were without power in the affected states as of Thursday afternoon, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.
At least 75 people were killed in Kentucky and 14 in nearby states when a storm system packing a swarm of tornadoes swept through the region last Friday.
In Northern California, a blizzard closed a major highway linking California and Oregon after vehicles were seen skidding or getting stuck on Interstate 5, the state’s Department of Transportation said.
Prophetic Link:
“The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land, follow each other in quick succession. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. Men cannot discern the sentinel angels restraining the four winds that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed; but when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.” Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 6, page 408.1.