A significant winter storm continues to impact much of the West on Sunday, March 3, 2024, with heavy mountain snow and widespread damaging winds, including dangerous, blizzard conditions in the Sierra Nevada.
On Thursday, February 29, 2024, the Smokehouse Creek Fire expanded beyond 404 686 ha (1 million acres) in Texas, marking it as the largest wildfire in the state’s history. The blaze, which also extended into Oklahoma, has claimed the lives of at least two individuals and continues to pose a significant threat to homes, cattle, and livelihoods in the Texas Panhandle.
A rare EF-2 tornado touched down in Grand Blanc, Michigan, just after midnight on February 28, 2024, confirmed by the National Weather Service (NWS) in Detroit. With estimated peak winds reaching 185 km/h (115 mph) and spanning a path of 9.1 km (5.7 miles), this event marks only the second February tornado in the region’s history, with the previous one occurring on February 28, 1974, in southwest Wayne County.
An atmospheric river (AR) and low-pressure system are forecasted to bring widespread precipitation, including heavy snowfall in the Sierra Nevada and potential flooding along the US West Coast, from February 28 through March 3, 2024.
A series of out-of-control wildfires swept through the Texas Panhandle on February 27 and 28, 2024, prompting tens of thousands of residents to evacuate, causing widespread power outages, and forcing the temporary shutdown of the Pantex Plant, a critical nuclear weapons facility. The disaster, affecting numerous homes and prompting a disaster declaration in 60 counties, saw the Smokehouse Creek Fire rapidly grow to Texas’ 2nd largest wildfire in history.
An impending winter storm, driven by an upper-level trough and strong cold front from the northeastern Pacific and western Canada, is forecasted to deliver significant snowfall and strong gusty winds to much of the West in the coming days. Heavy snow is expected in the Central Rockies and Cascades through Monday, extending to the Sierra and the Northern Rockies/Great Basin by Tuesday, with over a foot of snow possible in many areas.
A widespread network outage was reported in the United States on Thursday morning, February 22, 2024, following two major eruptions on the Sun, an X1.8 flare at 23:07 UTC on February 21 and X1.7 at 06:32 UTC on February 22. Both erupted from Active Region 3590.
Two X-class solar flares erupted over the past 9 hours — the first was X1.8 at 23:07 UTC on February 21 and the second X1.7 at 06:32 UTC on February 22, 2024. Both erupted from Active Region 3590.
A large and destructive tornado swept through four districts in Sumedang and Bandung Regencies of West Java, Indonesia on February 21, 2024, affecting more than 60 homes and injuring at least 22 people.
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has set a new record for low temperatures, reaching -52.3 °C (-62.14 °F) in Fuyun County, leading to the death of numerous birds and surpassing a cold record held since 1960. Amidst the Chinese Lunar New Year’s return, this severe cold has resulted in extensive traffic disruptions and emergency responses across the region.
