Severe Weather Warnings Persist After a Deadly Weekend of Tornadoes, Dust Storms and Fires

The storms came amid the Trump administration’s big layoffs at the National Weather Service and its parent agency.

Severe weather and fire warnings continue after a deadly storm system this weekend unleashed more than 50 tornadoes across the South and Midwest and spawned fierce winds, sparking dust storms, wildfires and destruction.

Across the country, the National Weather Service issued more than 250 tornado warnings in less than 72 hours, beginning on Friday. By Monday, the extreme weather had killed at least 42 people across eight states, destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings, and caused more than 100,000 power outages.

Severe weather advisories persist as the storm system moves east. As of Monday evening, warnings for high winds, fire conditions, floods and other extreme weather were in effect in parts of the South and Midwest. Critical fire conditions are expected on Monday and Tuesday across parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas, according to the National Weather Service. 

That agency is among the many affected by recent Trump administration layoffs. Its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which houses decades of foundational U.S. scientific data and is a key source of information on weather and extreme weather events, has already reportedly lost hundreds of employees through cuts and resignations. 

A week before the storms began on Friday, the Trump administration reportedly called for another 1,029 upcoming cuts—10 percent of NOAA’s current workforce. 

Experts have said these cuts threaten public safety and may face legal challenges. NOAA’s own website suggests that some functions of the agency have already been affected by the administration’s actions. 

“Due to recent federal layoffs that affected NOAA media relations staff as well as subject matter experts, journalists might experience delays in responses to media inquiries and information requests,” the agency’s website says in an update from March 3. “We appreciate your patience and understanding.”

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In particular, the Trump administration has targeted efforts to understand and address global warming. Research on the link between tornadoes and climate change is ongoing, but there is growing evidence that rising temperatures are contributing to conditions favorable for increased tornado outbreaks, particularly those with many tornadoes on a single day. 

Research also suggests that “Tornado Alley,” traditionally located in the central U.S., may be shifting east into what some call Dixie Alley. That puts residents in states like Alabama and Mississippi, as well as in the Northeast, at greater risk for more frequent tornadoes. Researchers have found that this shift is consistent with projections of global warming. 

The on-the-ground impact from the storms is still being tallied. In Kansas, high winds and a dust storm caused a collision of more than 50 vehicles, killing eight people.

In Missouri, tornadoes across 27 counties killed at least 12, destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings and left more than 140,000 temporarily without power, according to the state emergency management agency. Gov. Mike Kehoe called the devastation in his state “staggering.” 

Members of the National Guard in Arkansas, where three deaths were confirmed, were deployed on Sunday for humanitarian assistance.

Melissa Widhalm, associate director of the Midwestern Regional Climate Center at Purdue University, emphasized the need for increased investment in storm preparedness and emergency response nationwide.

“It’s eye opening, storm after storm, to see how vulnerable we remain as a society to the effects of severe weather,” Widhalm said. “There were an awful lot of fatalities with this event, which is just devastating.”

High winds from the storm system and dry winter conditions spawned severe wildfires in Oklahoma and Texas. By Sunday afternoon, Oklahoma emergency management staff identified more than 400 damaged homes, four deaths and 142 injuries related to fires and high winds in the state.

Nolan Meister, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, said the unusual extent of Friday’s fires was exacerbated by higher than normal winds.

“March is one of our windiest times of the year, but even by the standards here in the Southern Plains, where we often get very windy, this one was anomalously strong,” Meister said. 

Meister urged Oklahoma residents to pay attention to weather forecasts and local emergency management warnings throughout the week and to avoid creating open sparks or new fires.

“The Anxiety … Is Crippling” 

In Alabama alone, National Weather Service staff are surveying suspected tornado damage at 16 locations across the state. As of Monday, the agency’s Birmingham office had confirmed nine tornado touchdowns. 

So far, state officials have confirmed the death of three Alabamians during the severe weather, which also caused widespread power outages, major structural damage and some localized flooding. 

Even the staff of the NWS office itself, based in Shelby County, were forced to hunker down in an interior break room and temporarily hand off some duties to the agency’s Atlanta office. 

“You gotta practice what you preach, and we did just that earlier this evening,” NWS Birmingham wrote on social media. “Our staff took shelter when a tornado-warned storm was approaching our office. (Our break room is our safe room.) We also took that time to check on coworkers who were in the tornado’s path.”

Eighty-three-year-old Harry Leon Faine was among those who died as a result of the weekend’s severe weather, according to the Talladega County coroner. Faine lived in a mobile home located less than a mile from the former Winterboro High School building, which was significantly damaged from a tornado rated EF-2, which means estimated winds of 111 to 135 miles per hour. Faine’s body was found around 200 feet from his residence, the coroner said. 

Those living in manufactured homes are at serious risk of death or injury during tornadoes, which can rip apart the structures or simply blow them into the air when not properly strapped down. If there’s an imminent tornado threat, experts say it is safer to seek harbor in a ditch or other low-lying area than to stay inside a mobile home. Alabama has one of the highest percentages of residents living in manufactured homes at just over 12 percent, according to census data. 

Two other people, including a man who was busy in a home workshop during the storm, were reported dead in Dallas County, part of the state’s Black Belt. 

Sandy Pouncey was one of thousands of Alabamians who packed into storm shelters during the worst of the severe weather. A resident of rural Lee County outside Auburn, Pouncey is a survivor of the 2019 Beauregard-Smiths Station EF-4 tornado that left 23 people dead and nearly 100 injured. After her experience with that tragedy, Pouncey had a storm shelter installed behind her mobile home. 

Since then, when bad weather rolls in, Pouncey and her neighbors—among them other survivors of the 2019 tornadoes—gather in the small shelter to keep safe. One of those neighbors is a woman who lost both her mother and father to the 2019 tornado. When they know that bad weather is likely headed their way, Pouncey said, she and her neighbor are wracked with fear. 

“The anxiety that comes up even before it happens is crippling,” she said. “It’s a panic that you just can’t control. … We depend on every little piece of weather knowledge we can find to stay prepared and relieve some of the stress.”

A lack of internet service in the rural area leaves residents like Pouncey relying on NOAA weather radios to relay important information, including tornado watches and warnings.

Over the weekend, Pouncey and her neighbors were in the small shelter for around 12 hours. In the end, there was no significant damage in the immediate vicinity of her home. 

“And I’ve seen some people dogging the weather people because they didn’t see a tornado where they’re at,” she said. “Just ’cause they didn’t come to your house don’t mean it couldn’t next time.” 

The national political climate, too, has Pouncey and her neighbors on edge. 

“When I heard there were cuts to NOAA, I thought ‘What the hell?’ I got a pit in the bottom of my stomach,” she said. “I was devastated. And I’m sure that anybody who’s ever been hit by a tornado—they probably feel the same way.”

Researchers have also expressed concern about the administration’s cuts to funding for climate science research and emergency response, including cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

The Midwestern Regional Climate Center’s Widhalm emphasized that continued investment in timely, comprehensive warnings for people in the path of extreme weather events are crucial, and said that reductions in funding and staffing at relevant agencies may impact future efforts.

“We’ve made such amazing improvements in our ability to warn [of] storms, and we don’t want to lose that progress,” Widhalm said. “We want to continue that progress. And that takes time, that takes investment in our sciences to be able to continue making those improvements that we’ve seen for decades.”

Widhalm, who has written about links between tornadoes and climate change, also noted that there is much researchers still don’t know about the relationship between the two. But some changes made by the Trump administration raise questions about the future of climate and severe weather research.

“There is certainly a lot of concern amongst experts about the future of funding and the stability of funding,” she said.

Cover photo:  A school bus was thrown onto the roof of the former Winterboro High School building in Talladega County, Ala. during this weekend's severe weather. Credit: Courtesy of NWS Birmingham