One person has died after a flash of powerful storms swept away the Great Plains and the Midwestern region, while tornadoes were sighted in Nebraska and Iowa.

At least 20 tornadoes have been recorded from Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa, where one person has died from the storms.

On Wednesday too, temperatures were unexpectedly warm, setting records in Chicago and Des Moines.

At least 13 tornadoes were reported Wednesday, with gales of more than 70 mph in parts of Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa.

By Thursday, the powerful storm was moving north of the Great Lakes toward Canada and has brought high winds, snow and dangerous conditions to the upper Great Lakes region, the National Weather Service said.

In western Michigan, a fire caused reported damage to livestock and power outages as high winds toppled trees and power lines.

The Kansas wildfire sent smoke and dust billowing into Iowa.

Officials said the high winds and storms unfolded amid an unprecedented warm December in the Plains and northern United States, with temperatures of up to 21 Celsius in places like southwestern Wisconsin on Wednesday night.


National Weather Service

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Agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, (wikipedia)


AccuWeather

AccuWeather Inc. is an American media company that provides commercial weather forecasting services worldwide. AccuWeather was founded in 1962 by Joel N. Myers, (wikipedia)


NOAA Weather Radio

NOAA Weather Radio NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States that broadcast weather information directly (wikipedia)