Updated on: March 14, 2025 / 11:44 PM EDT / CBS/AP
A sprawling storm system crossing the U.S. on Friday caused deadly crashes, damaged buildings and fanned more than 100 wildfires in several central states, prompting evacuation orders in some communities. More than a dozen tornadoes touched down in Missouri and Arkansas, and threats of more loomed for the Mississippi Valley into the night and the Deep South on Saturday.
The Texas Department of Public Safety reported three deaths Friday in three separate car crashes due to the low visibility, high winds and dirt. The department said there were around 24 crashes Friday.
In central Missouri, the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department told CBS News that it was responding to “reports of homes damaged from falling trees, numerous power lines down, and vehicles damaged from flying debris” following a possible tornado that tore through the town of Rolla. Fire crews were also responding to an overturned big-rig. It was unclear if there were any injuries.
Late Friday night, the National Weather Service confirmed two tornadoes had touched down on the ground just west of metropolitan St. Louis and were heading towards the city. St. Charles County had issued outdoor tornado sirens.
Nearly 150 fires were reported in Oklahoma, Andy James, Oklahoma Forestry Services fire management chief, told KOCO-TV. Oklahoma Highway Patrol said on social media that dusty winds toppled several tractor-trailers.
We are working several overturned semis across the state. This one is on US 183 just south of Hobart. We have also suspended the transportation of oversized loads in many counties to try and prevent situations like this one. pic.twitter.com/odF5Obp4QN
— OK Highway Patrol/DPS (@OHPDPS) March 14, 2025
“This is terrible out here,” Charles Daniel, a truck driver hauling a 48-foot trailer, told the Associated Press of the high winds whipping up dust. “There’s a lot of sand and dirt in the air. I’m not pushing it over 55 mph. I’m scared it will blow over if I do.”
The National Weather Service predicted extreme weather across a vast swath of the U.S. with a population exceeding 100 million people. Powerful winds gusting up to 80 mph were forecast from the Canadian border to Texas.
Forecasters say the severe storm threat will continue into the weekend, with a high chance of tornadoes and damaging winds Saturday in Mississippi and Alabama. Heavy rain could bring flash flooding to some parts of the East Coast on Sunday.
Experts say it’s not unusual to see such weather extremes in March, with storm systems producing heavy snow and blizzards on the cold side and severe thunderstorms and tornadoes on the warm side.
“What’s unique about this one is its large size and intensity,” Bill Bunting of the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center told the Associated Press. “And so what that is doing is producing really substantial impacts over a very large area.”
Tornadoes hit amid storm outbreak
The National Weather Service said it observed nine evening tornadoes, including one considered damaging around the southern Missouri city of Bakersfield.
“This is a life threatening situation. Seek shelter now!” the agency warned on X.
The Storm Prediction Center said fast-moving storms could spawn twisters and hail as large as baseballs, but the greatest threat would come from straight-line winds near or exceeding hurricane force, with gusts of 100 mph (160 kph) possible.
Other areas at risk included parts of Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi.
About 47 million people faced an enhanced to moderate severe storm threat from Madison, Wisconsin, to Birmingham, Alabama.
Forecasters grew increasingly worried that intense thunderstorms farther south will likely bring an even greater tornado threat Saturday.
The NWS Storm Prediction Center said parts of Mississippi, including Jackson and Hattiesburg and areas of Alabama including Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, will be at a high risk. Severe storms and tornadoes are also possible across eastern Louisiana, western Georgia, central Tennessee and the western Florida Panhandle.
“We have a lot of confidence that we most likely will have a tornado outbreak tomorrow,” Storm Prediction Center meteorologist Evan Bentley said in an online briefing Friday.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey declared a preemptive state of emergency Friday, urging people across the state to be vigilant overnight and into the weekend.
Wildfires break out amid dry, gusty conditions
Wildfires in the Southern Plains threatened to spread rapidly amid warm, dry weather and strong winds.
A blaze in Roberts County, Texas, northeast of Amarillo, quickly blew up from less than a square mile to an estimated 12.5 square miles, the Texas A&M University Forest Service said on X.
In the evening, the National Weather Service in Norman said a “complex of extremely dangerous fires” was located northeast of Oklahoma City, near Stillwater, and urged some people in the city of about 50,000 to evacuate. Officials issued mandatory evacuation orders via social media that included homes, hotels and a Walmart.
High winds also knocked out power to more than 315,000 homes and businesses in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois as of Friday night, according to the utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
The weather service said a potential for dry thunderstorms in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas carry the added risk of fires being started by lightning with minimal rainfall to impede them.
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe declared a state of emergency Friday in anticipation of the severe weather expected to hit the state, urging residents “to stay alert, monitor weather forecasts, and follow official warnings.”
Blizzards expected in Northern Plains
Forecasters warned that heavy snow whipped by powerful winds are likely to make travel treacherous in parts of the Rockies and Northern Plains. Blizzard conditions were possible in the Dakotas and Minnesota.
Winter storm warnings issued Thursday lingered into Friday morning in mountainous regions of Arizona and Utah, where more than a foot of snowfall was possible. Forecasters warned of poor visibility and icy road conditions. Snow in northern Arizona shut down some stretches of Interstate 40.
The winter blast continued after snowfall of up to 3 feet blanketed the Sierra Nevada earlier in the week.
