Fire and Tornado Risks Jump Across U.S. With Spring Storms

(Bloomberg) -- A pair of powerful spring storms will raise the thunderstorm and tornado threat across the South, while scouring the central U.S. with high winds and putting Texas, New Mexico and the Great Plains at risk of wildfires Tuesday. 

High winds are building from Montana to Texas, and where conditions are dry, red flag fire warnings have been posted across parts of 10 states, the National Weather Service said. Further to the east, a second storm has sparked tornado watches across most of Louisiana and Mississippi. 

The strong winds will raise “fire weather concerns for the next several days,” said Marc Chenard, a senior branch forecaster with the U.S. Weather Prediction Center. 

The central and southern U.S. has been battered by intense spring storms in recent weeks that have helped spread wildfires across Texas, sparking evacuations and touching off a rash of destructive and deadly tornadoes. Last year, storms, floods and fires killed 688 people across the U.S. and caused more than $145 billion of losses, the third-highest tally in records going back to 1980.

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