NEW ORLEANS -- Barry continued to soak Louisiana and Mississippi as it weakened to a tropical depression Sunday over Northwestern Louisiana. While the low-lying city of New Orleans appeared to have dodged a catastrophic deluge, the National Hurricane Center warned of tornadoes, gale-force winds and "dangerous, life-threatening flooding."

"I, ...Read more

NEW ORLEANS -- This low-lying Louisiana city -- built on a crescent-shaped sliver of land surrounded by the mouth of the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico -- has long battled water.

But Tropical Storm Barry presents a somewhat unusual threat.

While tropical storms and hurricanes are a risk along the Gulf Coast ...Read more

CHICAGO -- The annual Chicago Pride Parade was halted due to a severe weather warning that left more than 100,000 people without power Sunday afternoon.

Commonwealth Edison spokesman John Schoen said 99,000 customers were without power as of 4 p.m. local time and 36,000 customers already had their service restored.

The parade officially was ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Ask anyone the most dangerous element of a hurricane, and they may mention wind. They may mention storm surge. But they're unlikely to name the biggest current killer: rain.

In the past three years, as the impact of climate change on hurricanes became more apparent, rain has pushed aside storm surge to emerge as the top...Read more

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- When Rodney Andreasen first emerged from the wreckage of Hurricane Michael last October, the Jackson County emergency management director realized nearly everything he knew was gone.

The log cabin home he had intended to retire to was lost. The roads in his inland, rural county were choked with fallen trees. The roofing ...Read more

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A prominent hurricane forecast has upped its storm count slightly for the 2019 storm season as questions about the staying power of El Nino swirl.

The updated forecast from Colorado State University is calling for a near average season with 14 named storms, including six hurricanes and two major hurricanes of Category 3...Read more

CHICAGO -- It's official: It's been the wettest month of May in recorded history in Chicago. And although the city will get a bit of a respite from the rain Friday, forecasters say this summer is expected to be colder and wetter than usual.

With 8.25 inches of precipitation measured at O'Hare International Airport from May 1 through 7 a.m. ...Read more

CHICAGO -- It's no surprise May has been a waterlogged mess in Chicago, with severe thunderstorm alerts almost daily and weeks of flooded streets and swollen rivers.

But if you're wondering if the area has actually received more rain than usual this month or whether your vitamin D-deprived brain is playing tricks on you, it's the former. The ...Read more

For 12 consecutive days, the government's Storm Prediction Center has logged reports of at least eight tornadoes daily, a destructive and impressive streak that constitutes a record -- at least for now.

"The fact that it's been persistent is unusual, but not unprecedented," said Bill Bunting, chief of the forecast operations branch at the storm...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The trail of damage left behind by tornadoes that tore through the Kansas City area Tuesday night will be investigated by survey teams from the National Weather Service offices in Topeka and Pleasant Hill.

The teams left early Wednesday morning to survey the area where the storms passed through, and will work toward ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- After a tornado ripped through northeastern Kansas Tuesday evening, at least 11 people were reported injured in Douglas County, several homes were damaged and more than 13,000 were without power.

In Lawrence police reported large trees down, along with power lines and debris along roads on the southeastern edge of the city. ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- More than 150 members of the North Carolina National Guard gathered in Raleigh this month, with the damage from Hurricane Florence in 2018 still on their minds.

On a 40-foot map of the state, they began moving North Carolina's guard units around like chess pieces, to set the order of battle for the next major storm.

"We go ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The governors of Kansas and Missouri are calling for help as the two states recover from several rounds of severe weather that brought flooding and tornadoes.

The Missouri National Guard was activated Monday afternoon to help respond to flooded areas. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson posted on Twitter: "As our state continues to ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Perched in front of his laptop in his Wichita, Kan., home, meteorologist Mike Smith watched on his screen Wednesday as one tornado after another, five in a single day, touched down with devastating force.

The first was in Kansas, followed by another that cut through tiny Golden City, Mo., killing three people. Then, as the ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A federal hurricane forecast issued Thursday calls for a near-normal season this year, with four to eight hurricanes and up to 15 storms powerful enough to be given names.

The forecast represents a potential decrease from the eight hurricanes seen last year and possible sharp decline from the 10 that appeared in the ...Read more

Leona Rice was in church when the 2011 Joplin tornado descended with hellish winds, smashing the building to splinters, shearing off her left leg and killing four of her church-going friends.

On Wednesday, eight years later to the day, Rice, 74, was in church again, this time in her nearby hometown of Carl Junction, Missouri, when the tornado ...Read more