Tornadoes touched down in Texas and Louisiana as a powerful storm system that sank Heavy snow in California It moved east on Thursday, knocking out power to tens of thousands of people and canceling hundreds of flights to and from Dallas.
Hurricane warnings issued for Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding Texas areas expired by late afternoon, but strong winds and hail persisted, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service said the tornado, which hit land near the small town of Fouke, was moving about 100 miles east of Dallas toward the northeast toward Texarkana at a speed of 55 mph.
The NWS Storm Prediction Center reported that a severe thunderstorm was in effect as of midnight Thursday in parts of Southeast Texas, including Houston and College Station.
Further east in Louisiana, a tornado struck near Louisiana State University in Shreveport.
More than 338,000 utility customers in Texas had not had electricity as of Thursday night, according to the utility-tracking website poweroutage.us.
The Federal Aviation Administration briefly issued a ground stop at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Thursday afternoon due to inclement weather. CBS Texas reportedbut it was later lifted.
“Normal operations are resuming after heavy winds and rain in our area,” the airport told CBS News in a statement Thursday evening.
According to FlightAware.com flight tracker, DFW and Dallas Love Field have recorded more than 400 cancellations, both to and from the airports.
Many school districts, including Dallas and Fort Worth, have canceled after-school activities and events due to the expectations.
“This is the same system that hit California and is now in New Mexico and will cross Texas and then Arkansas,” said Rich Thompson, chief forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
He said high winds and extreme cold posed the biggest threats.
Meteorologists say the storm produced “once in a generation” snow in California and Oregon with up to 7 feet of accumulation in patches.
However, the snowfall has been credited with helping to reduce and eliminate drought conditions in California in some areas.
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