As of Tuesday nearly thirteen thousand flights have been canceled or delayed. This is a combination of a partial government shutdown and severe storms and wind that started Monday on the east coast and spread to the Midwest.

Over 34 million people were under a tornado watch reaching from Florida to New Jersey, and over twenty five feet of snow fell in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and northern Michigan. According to WAVY some schools announced that they would be switching to remote learning for the day; meanwhile others stated that they would be closed for the day (Lejano, Mar17).

According to CBS the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, had authorized the national guard to aid in recovery from the storms (Shaffer, Ali,Dames, Rosso, Mar13).  He said that the order would stay in effect until conditions improve or until March 19th depending on which one  would come first.

Over 35 tornadoes appeared in states like Illinois, which received 17, and Missouri, who received 7 tornadoes. All of these Tornadoes were reported to be rated either EF1 or EF0. Multiple cities, including Chicago, Memphis, St. Louis, New York City, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Baltimore all experienced damaging thunderstorms.

According to The Weather Channel “In Jonesboro, Arkansas, a 75 mph wind gust tore shingles off a roof. In Brookwood, Alabama, one motorist was injured when high winds topped a tree onto a car. Another tree fell on a home in Duval County, Florida due to thunderstorm winds.” (Erdman, Mar18).