The powerful low-pressure weather system that's already spawned 10 suspected tornadoes, flooded streets and knocked out power to tens of thousands across Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri has been dubbed the Witch of November by meteorologists.
The fast-moving storm system dropped both snow and rain over portions of the Midwest on Wednesday, packing strong winds that flipped semitrailers, damaged industrial park buildings and downed power lines in parts of Iowa and Nebraska.
NBC reported that meteorologists call the powerful low-pressure system the 'Witch of November'.
National Weather Service officials said the system, which began Tuesday around Utah and moved eastward into the country's midsection, dumped more than a foot of snow on the Rockies before creating conditions ripe for tornadoes.But they said the weather wasn't quite as warm as it could have been, so the threat decreased.
'Probably the worst has passed,' said Stephen Corfidi, a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
By Wednesday night, remnants of the system were reported in eastern Iowa, northeast Missouri and western Illinois. Winds between 25mph and 35mph were expected into early Thursday, with wind gusts of up to 60mph in some spots.
Corfidi called the system a 'classic mid-November storm'.
'Basically there's a warm side and a cold side to these systems, and the unifying threat is a very strong wind field all the way around it,' he said 'So on the cold side, you have a chance for snow or freezing precipitation accompanied by very strong winds and occasionally blizzard conditions. ... On the warm side, the thunderstorms that grow in the strong wind environment tend to rotate. And if they rotate long enough, and if the moisture is great enough, they can produce tornadoes.
'So usually you kind of get a one-two punch with this type of event.'
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