Tornadoes confirmed 11 | Max rating | |
Type Extratropical cyclone
Nor'easter
Winter storm
Blizzard
Tornado outbreak
Flood Formed January 29, 2016 (2016-01-29) Dissipated February 7, 2016 (2016-02-07) (moved out to sea) Duration of tornado outbreak 1 day, 1 hour, 23 minutes | ||
The February 2016 North American winter storm was a strong winter storm that caused more than 70,000 people in southern California to lose their electricity, with many broken trees and electrical lines in that area, with the Southern Rocky Mountains having the potential to receive some of the greatest snowfall from the system. One person in San Diego, California area died when a tree fell on their car. Another person in Minnesota died after being struck by a car while crossing a street.
Contents
Meteorological history
The storm first developed late on January 29 near California and started to track east and brought heavy snow and wind to parts of the Southwest. Late on February 1, the storm started to track northeastward towards Canada, bringing with it blizzard conditions and up to 18 inches (0.46 m) of snow in parts of the Midwest. It also brought severe weather to parts of the South on February 2. As the system tracked northeast into Canada, it brought rain to most of the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and New England, which had already been hit by a previous historic storm about a week prior to this. After the storm complex had moved into Canada, the cold front associated with it stalled over the East Coast late on February 4. A new low pressure developed off North Carolina that night and started to track up the coast. It impacted areas already hit hard by the previous blizzard about two weeks prior, and caused messy travel along Interstate 95 in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast areas. The storm brought a quick but moderate-to-heavy burst of fresh snow, with some areas in New England receiving up to 1 ft (0.30 m) of the wintry precipitation.
Impact
Wolf Creek Pass got more than 23 in (58 cm) of snow in 24 hours as of the morning of February 1, with multiple feet of snow expected in the mountains of Utah and Colorado.
A blizzard watch was issued for February 2 north and west of Des Moines.
Along with the aforementioned deaths, on February 5 two people were killed in Canton, Massachusetts when hit by heavy tree branches covered in heavy snow. In New York City, a person was killed when a huge construction crane, in the midst of being moved and secured due to the weather, collapsed and fell on him.
On February 1, over 500 airplane flights were canceled at Denver Airport.
Severe weather in the South
The storm also produced severe weather across the South on the evening of February 2, including 11 tornadoes, some of which were strong and caused considerable damage in and around Alabama and Mississippi towns of Collinsville, Scooba, and McMullen. More storms had affected the southeast region on February 3. Flooding also impacted the south including Georgia. On the 3rd, an EF0 tornado occurred near Columbia, South Carolina, and an EF1 caused damage in Fort Stewart, Georgia.