Extremely high winds sweeping through Texas and several other states could lead to severe danger for anyone near a window on Wednesday.
Meteorologists are warning over a million people in Amarillo and El Paso, Texas alone to expect wind gusts over 65 mph.
The National Weather Service (NWS) added that people should stay clear of windows due to the risk of extreme winds turning anything not tied down into a projectile.
They added that people in multi-story homes should stay on the lower levels as the dangerous gusts could knock down trees.
AccuWeather is predicting an even larger danger zone for these winds on Wednesday – tracking gusts over 40 mph across 20 states.
In nine of those states, high winds will likely top 50 mph, including parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.
The new weather warnings comes just days after a deadly storm smashed through the same region of the central US.
A wave of tornados, powerful thunderstorms, hail, and flooding led to at least 40 deaths during the weekend storm.
A woman searches through a debris field after a severe storm in Bridgeton, Missouri, where six people died across the state
Homes destroyed by an Oklahoma wildfire after more than 130 fires were reported across the state
Meteorologists are predicting dangerous wind gusts throughout 20 different states on Wednesday
Along with potentially deadly winds – reaching 80 mph in the worst case scenarios – meteorologists are also warning a handful of states about the potential for large fires to break out.
Due to the dry brush, low humidity, and high winds, there’s a renewed threat for small fires to spread quickly in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, southern Kansas, and small portions of Colorado.
AccuWeather urged people in the region to avoid open burning on Wednesday and to use extreme caution if they engage in activities that might cause sparks or an open flame.
AccuWeather senior director of forecasting operations Dan DePodwin said: ‘We saw just how dangerous and destructive these strong wind gusts can be in areas with extremely dry vegetation. Dozens of fires sparked across the Plains on Friday.’
Forecasters said a strong jet stream is now moving straight through Texas and into the Midwest on Wednesday, bringing more thunderstorms to states like Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.
AccuWeather meteorologists said they accurately predicted that Friday’s severe weather would produce over 70 tornadoes.
However, that number is now expected to increase as each state in the path of this past weekend’s storm completes their damage surveys.
On Sunday alone, roughly 250,000 people across Missouri, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Michigan were without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
More storms are projected to sweep across the US Midwest on Wednesday, days after another major storm system killed over 40 people
People work through the debris of the Cave City Auto Parts store in Arkansas where at least three people were killed
Down in Texas, local weather officials are also warning of the chance for terrifying dust storms that could leave drivers blind on the roads.
NWS El Paso advised anyone with breathing issues to stay indoors on Wednesday until the storm passes.
The weather service added that drivers need to be ready to pullover immediately if they see a dust storm coming.
On Tuesday, El Paso was already reporting wind gusts of more than 90 mph. NWS Amarillo added that ‘copious amounts’ of dust were being kicked up across central to eastern New Mexico.
‘Travel can be extremely dangerous during these powerful winds. We saw 18-wheelers flipped over and dust storms that reduced visibility to near-zero visibility within a matter of seconds, resulting in deadly chain-reaction pileups,’ DePodwin added.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has already been warning that Americans should prepare for extreme winter weather starting in mid-March.
Experts said a ‘polar vortex collapse’ will likely plunge the US back into the frigid weather much of the country suffered through in February.
This weather phenomenon is expected to bring even more winter weather and extremely cold temperatures later this month and into the spring, possibly leading to widespread travel disruptions for millions.
A polar vortex collapse, also called sudden stratospheric warming, is an event that causes cold Arctic air to bleed south – bringing icy conditions to the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe.
