HOUSTON – Hello and welcome to May! Here in Houston pool weather is in full swing this weekend with the summer heat making a quick comeback.
Across the rest of the States, it’s been a busy week with tornadoes. A strong tornado touched down in Virginia beach, we had a strong tornado in West Palm Beach and an EF-0 tornado touched down in Compton. We’ve covered plenty of tornadoes this spring, so today I wanted to focus on the Illinois dust storm, and severe flooding in the Northeast.
Deadly dust storm:
A devastating dust storm hit I-55 in Central Illinois on Monday, causing an over 70-car pileup and killing seven people. Dust storms are not uncommon in central Illinois this time of year, but were several factors to why this dust storm was so impactful. I-55 is a busy interstate along flat terrain that was freshly plowed, with intense gusty winds. There was a steady wind around 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. It wasn’t just the magnitude of the wind, but also the direction. I-55 travels north-south, and the strong winds were in the west-east direction, so the crosswind made driving more difficult.
Drivers experienced a drop in visibility and sadly there was very little time to react. A sobering reminder that deadly weather does not always come in the form of hurricanes or tornadoes.
Northeast flooding:
Torrential rainfall led to flash flooding to start the week in parts of the Northeast. On Sunday and Monday, Maine saw heavy rainfall which left thousands without power. The Carrabassett River was so swollen it washed away a bridge.
The heavy rainfall also led to flooding in New Hampshire. It had been several years since the Saco River had brought such severe flooding to the town of Conway. Several roads were completely washed out.
Something good:
They say April showers bring May flowers, and isn’t it the truth! We saw a TON of rainfall in April, and now we’re seeing flowers all across Southeast Texas. Check out this Click2Pin sent in from KurtAndCarol at Exploration Green in Clear Lake City! The coreopsis is everywhere and it’s beautiful! Want to share a photo or video with us? Go Click2Pins.com to share yours.
Stay safe always,
Caroline