Wild weather’s coming: West readies for snow as Midwest gets a taste of summer

BOSTON (AP) — A powerful winter storm is expected to dump several feet of snow in parts of West starting Monday while much of the central U.S. will be basking in unseasonably warm conditions. Windy conditions are also raising the potential for fires in several states.

The National Weather Service said Monday parts of the Oregon Cascades and Northern Rockies will see near blizzard conditions with one to two inches of snow an hour and winds reaching upwards of 65 mph (104 kph) It warned of dangerous travel conditions.

The storm will move into the Great Basin and Central Rockies Tuesday, carrying much colder temperatures and strong winds across the inner mountain West, said Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

“We’ll be very wintry like for the next two days,” he added.

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The West is just one place with unusual, and in some cases, dangerous weather conditions. Here is what to expect elsewhere.

WARM CONDITIONS IN HEARTLAND

This time of year should be the coldest in places like Chicago. But the city and many others across the central U.S. are getting an early taste of summer with temperatures in the 60s and 70s. Golf anyone?

The warm conditions were an extensions of balmy weather over the weekend with temperatures reaching into the 60s in Denver, Chicago and Des Moines, Iowa. Kansas City, Missouri, enjoyed temperatures in the mid-70s.

FIRE RISK IN THE PLAINS

But the warmer temperatures have brought increased risk of fires across the Great Plains.

The National Weather Service said dry, gusty winds were creating what it called critical fire weather conditions, and issued red flag warnings and fire weather watches in parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, up to Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and east to Iowa, Illinois and Missouri.

Nearby states, including parts of Arkansas, Minnesota and Wisconsin, were under hazardous weather outlooks because of an increased fire danger, according to weather service maps.