Severe storms bring baseball-sized hail to the Midwest and heavy snow to the Rockies
Hail ranging in size from a quarter to a baseball hit parts of the Midwest and heavy snow fell in the Rockies overnight as parts of the United States experienced severe weather, including thunderstorms, heavy rain and at least one possible tornado.
Severe thunderstorm warnings were in place across parts of Illinois and Missouri until at least midday.
The National Weather Service in Kansas City, Missouri, warned residents to stay inside and stay away from windows because "this storm has a history of producing softball-sized hail (3.5 inches)."
NBC affiliate KSHB of Kansas City reported that drivers sheltered under a bridge on Interstate 70 to avoid baseball-sized hail, which has smashed windshields.
The weather service in Topeka, Kansas, said hail as big as a quarter and gusts up to 60 mph could last until Thursday morning. Video showed what appeared to be a huge tornado moving through northwest Kansas on Wednesday night.
The Storm Prediction Center said early Thursday that "scattered severe thunderstorms capable of tornadoes [and] large to very large hail" was possible from parts of the south-central states into the Midwest.
The area most likely to face the most severe conditions is a corridor from southeast Oklahoma into northern Arkansas and southern Missouri during Thursday afternoon and evening.
Almost 13,000 customers in Colorado were without power as of 5 a.m. ET, with CORE Electric Cooperative warning that "significant" snowfall could affect services through Friday.
So far, Aspen Springs has recorded 23 inches of snow; Pinecliffe, 18.5; Jamestown, 14.3; Evergreen, 13.5; and Nederland, 12.1.
Snowfall is expected to continue Thursday, with rates of 2 to 3 inches an hour at times. It is not expected to let up until Friday morning.
The Colorado Department of Transportation urged drivers to stay home and keep off the roads as a storm was predicted to dump multiple feet of snow on the Denver metro region, up to 1 or 2 inches per hour, raising the risk of avalanches in mountain passes.
"Even during periods when roads are warm and some snow melts, precipitation rates could be heavy during these periods, compromising visibility for drivers," the department said in a statement late Wednesday.
"With snow expected to fall at a fast rate, visibility is likely to be compromised even during periods when snow is melting quickly," Executive Director Shoshana Lew said.
Mike Cooperstein, the northern mountains regional manager for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, said that he had "high confidence" the center's avalanche mitigation operations will be needed during and after the storm.
As many as 5 million people were under winter alerts early Thursday as heavy snow fell over parts of Colorado, northern Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
The extreme weather is expected to push southward from the eastern central Plains into Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas on Friday before reaching southeastern Texas early Saturday.
Meanwhile, the weather service said to expect "an extended period of very warm and pleasant weather," with mid-Atlantic regions 20 to 25 degrees above seasonal averages, although a cold front from Canada could end this by Saturday.
