Winter is back with dangerous winds causing wildfires, propertay damage, power outages

Winter is making a comeback as a fast-moving clipper storm continues to unleash gusty winds and areas of snow from the Midwest to the interior Northeast. 

Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power Saturday after high winds raked eastward from the Great Lakes region, leaving trees down and substantial property damage in their wake. Farther west, at least one person died in a massive wind-driven wildfire in Nebraska.

About 346,00 customers were still without electricity as of the late afternoon in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to PowerOutage.us .

A 66 mph gust at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday was its fourth-strongest on record that was not caused by a thunderstorm, according to the National Weather Service. Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport saw winds hit 85 mph that afternoon.

Winds took down a gas station canopy in New Franklin, Ohio, and an auto parts store sign in Baldwin, Pennsylvania. The roof of a school building in the Chicago suburb of Niles, Illinois, was severely damaged by wind.

High winds fueled multiple wildfires across a broad swath of Nebraska’s range and grassland, causing one death in Arthur County. What state officials have dubbed the Morrill County fire has burned at least 735 square miles across four counties. At least 12 structures have been destroyed, according to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.

Dangerous winds were but one piece of a wild weather mosaic that included heavy rains in Hawaii, triple-digit heat coming next week in Phoenix and a return of winter cold to the Midwest and Northeast. Chicago was forecast to approach the single digits Fahrenheit by Tuesday, with Minneapolis seeing lows around zero.

Several Minnesota cities have already declared snow emergencies starting Sunday, when what could be the season’s largest snowfall is expected to hit. Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are also in the crosshairs.