Strong winds fed wildfires in the Oklahoma panhandle while new snow fall in the Sierras lead to instability contributing to a deadly avalanche.
Wildfires Erupt in Oklahoma, New Snow Leads to Avalanche Conditions
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Winter returned to Western and Middle America late week with snow and ice. A weather system also produced a round of tornadoes in Indiana.
Conversely, 41 current wildfires have scorched parts of Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
Colleen Bradford Krantz has our weather report.
Transcript
A series of wildfires rolled across the Southern Plains this week, burning thousands of acres.
The Oklahoma panhandle was the center of a massive wildfire . The area between Beaver and Hooker was the epicenter of the heavy smoke and flames. Winds gusts approaching 65 miles per hour pushed the uncontrolled fires into southern Kansas.
Smoke-filled skies shut down several highways temporarily due to reduced visibility.
Dry conditions have settled into the Colorado Rockies triggering Red Flag fire warnings.
The U.S. is the driest since last October with 73.73% of the country in some form of drought according to the latest Drought Monitor.
Lower than normal snow fall is getting the blame for setting the stage for a deadly avalanche in California. At least eight people died in the worst avalanche in nearly 50 years.
Several feet of snow fell in the Sierra Nevada Mountain region, landing on top of an earlier, hardened layer which made for the unstable conditions.
Craig Clements, meteorology professor at San Jose State University: “Let's say you have multiple storms and you have new snow on top of new snow on top on new snow, those layers can bond a little bit easier versus old snow and new snow. Because old snow, the crystals change and they become - there's less ability for them to bond well with new snow and that's what happened here."
For Market to Market, I’m Colleen Bradford Krantz.
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