Already in spring, historic snowstorms threaten to hit the north of the United States

It will be a difficult week in terms of weather conditions for much of the United States.

The situation began to deteriorate since Monday in Arkansas, where there was a hailstorm with ice stones the size of tennis balls and a tornado made landfall, damaging some homes and moving at a speed of 35 miles per hour towards Little Rock Air Base. But that wasn't all. Since yesterday, and increasing in intensity today, a line of thunderstorms hit the area known as the Great Plains, basically the entire center of the country, from New Mexico to North Dakota, passing through Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota.

Thunderstorms will turn into heavy snowstorms the farther north of the country they go, particularly in Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. Heavy snowstorms are expected to last until Wednesday night.

“It is expected that a strip of heavy snow will remain and move slowly, which will allow 2-3 feet of snow to accumulate in places before the storm ends,” said meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, at the specialized chain AccuWeather.

It should be remembered that spring is already installed in the northern hemisphere, so that such a snowfall at this time of year, besides unusual, can be historical. The maximum snow accumulation recorded in areas such as North Dakota for mid-April is 17 inches. In addition, these weather conditions can cause complications in mobility. In the north of the great plains they are already recommending that, at least until Thursday morning, people limit car travel over long distances to emergencies only.

In the city of Portland, an inch of snow fell this morning. This is the first time that this has happened in April for more than a century, when the temperature began to be recorded officially. As it was a snowstorm in the off-season, the city was not prepared, so classes were canceled and 50,000 users in the region were left without electricity for a couple of hours.

This bad weather system, which is generating snowfall north of the great plain, will move through the center of the country to the south, affecting at least 18 states. Texas and Arkansas, in turn, are seeing a system of thunderstorms that may at some point overlap with the one coming down from the north.

“Large, very large hail, and even tornadoes are expected, with winds of great intensity, they are expected to stop in the south-central part of the country,” said the forecast of the national meteorological service.

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