PARIS – Snow-choked European cities are struggling to get planes, trains and roads moving again after a surprisingly intense, late-season storm.

A few flights were cancelled Wednesday and many were facing long delays at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports and the Frankfurt Airport.

Eurostar train service under the English Channel resumed Wednesday after being suspended most of Tuesday, but trains were running much more slowly than usual because of the icy tracks, causing delays.

Thousands of cars were stuck or moving slowly on roads around northern France Wednesday morning as authorities — and the army — tried to clear snow. Tens of thousands of homes in northern France remain without electricity, with temperatures below freezing across the region.

Belgium was still suffering long train delays Wednesday.

A picture taken on March 12, 2013 shows an Eiffel Tower made in snow, in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. AFP PHOTO / FRANCK FIFEFRANCK FIFE/Getty Images

Ground crew members de-ice a plane at Orly Airport in south Paris, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Snow and freezing temperatures continue to cause travel chaos Wednesday as some hundreds of flights in Europe have been canceled, trains are disrupted and some roads impassable. Seemingly unprepared for this heavy snow, cities across much of Europe are struggling to assure transport links. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

A meerkat walks in the snow in his enclosure at the zoo in Kronberg, western Germany on March 13, 2013. Yesterdays snowfall brought the winter back to the region. AFP PHOTO / ARNE DEDERT /Getty Images

Passengers queue for the Eurostar cross-Channel train, at Gare du Nord station in Paris, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Snow and freezing temperatures continue to cause travel chaos Wednesday as some hundreds of flights in Europe have been canceled, trains are disrupted and some roads impassable. Seemingly unprepared for this heavy snow, cities across much of Europe are struggling to assure transport links. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A photo taken on March 13, 2013 shows cars covered in snow on the D901 around Beaumont-Hague, northern France, following a heavy snow storm. Blizzard-like conditions — coming only eight days before the official start of spring — knocked out power to thousands of people in France and left motorists stranded in their cars. AFP PHOTO / ALAIN JOCARD/Getty Images

A woman takes a picture of the snow on March 13, 2013 in Ver-sur-Mer, northern France. More than 68,000 homes were without electricity in France and hundreds of people were trapped in their cars after a winter storm hit with heavy snow, officials and weather services said on March 12. Twenty-six regions in northwest and northern France were put on orange alert because of heavy snowfalls, which Meteo France said were “remarkable for the season because of the expected quantity and length of time”. AFP PHOTO / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/Getty Images

A man pushes a jammed car as heavy snow falls in Moscow, on March 15, 2013. Snow fell today across Moscow as the temperatures reached -1 C (30 F). AFP PHOTO / ANDREY SMIRNOV/ Getty Images

Winter flowering heather breaks through the snow blanket on March 14, 2013 at the Palmengarten botanical garden in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany. AFP PHOTO / ARNE DEDERT /Getty Images

An aerial view taken on March 13, 2013 shows dozens of trucks blocked on the A1 highway (Lille-Paris) around Roye, northern France, a day after a heavy snow storm hit the area. Icy conditions caused road closures and slowdowns, in particular in the north of France, but highways were gradually opening as snowdrifts were cleared and vehicles stranded during the snowstorm were recovered. AFP PHOTO PHILIPPE HUGUEN/ Getty Images

A cyclist rides through the snow in Copenhagen on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/POLFOTO, Jens Dresling)

People walk during a heavy snow storm on France on March 13, 2013 in Godewaersvelde, northern France. Icy conditions caused road closures and slowdowns, in particular in the north of France, but highways were gradually opening as snowdrifts were cleared and vehicles stranded during the snowstorm were recovered. AFP PHOTO /PHILILPPE HUGUEN/Getty Images

People struggle against wind and drifting snow in the Belarus capital Minsk, on March 15, 2013. A snow storm marched today across Minsk as the temperatures dropped to -6 C (21 F). AFP PHOTO/ ALEXEY GROMOV/ Getty Images

A woman walks past the Kremlin as heavy snow falls in Moscow, on March 15, 2013. Snow fell today across Moscow as the temperatures reached -1 C (30 F). AFP PHOTO / ANDREY SMIRNOV/ Getty Images

Tourists jumps in front the Eiffel tower during a snowy day on March 13, 2013 in Paris. Blizzard-like conditions, coming only eight days before the official start of spring, knocked out power to thousands of people in France and left motorists stranded in their cars. AFP PHOTO / THOMAS SAMSON/Getty Images

Cars and trucks are blocked by snow on March 13, 2013 in Brouay, near Caen, following a heavy snow fall. Blizzard-like conditions — coming only eight days before the official start of spring — knocked out power to thousands of people in France and left motorists stranded in their cars. AFP PHOTO / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/Getty Images

People walk down Sacre-Coeur Basilica stairs in Montmartre district, on March,12,2013 in Paris. The snow caused major disruptions as it moved into Paris, with authorities urging the seven million commuters who use public transport every day to stay home. Several major roads around the capital were forced to close. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK KOVARIK/ Getty Images

A red squirrel sits in the snow in Wiesbaden, Germany, on March 12, 2013. Winter came back to wide parts of the country, bringing snow and cold temperatures. AFP PHOTO / FREDRIK VON ERICHSEN / Getty Images

A photo taken on March 12, 2013 shows passengers stranded on the Paris-Cherbourg train, which left Paris on March 11 at midday, in the northwestern city of Caen. The passengers were forced to spend a second night on board after the train stopped at Caen’s station due to a heavy snowfall. AFP PHOTO / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/ Getty Images

A man takes photos on March 13, 2013 perched on cars covered in snow on the D901 around Beaumont-Hague, northern France, following a heavy snow storm. Blizzard-like conditions — coming only eight days before the official start of spring — knocked out power to thousands of people in France and left motorists stranded in their cars. AFP PHOTO/ ALAIN JOCARD/ Getty Images

Environment Canada is urging motorists to drive with caution during their morning commute as several forms of precipitation are expected.

A wintry mix of snow and ice pellets, along with the risk of freezing rain, will begin in Southwestern Ontario Monday morning.

Snowfall amounts with this low pressure system are not expected to be significant – with only 2-4 cm forecast throughout the day – but travelling conditions will worsen and may become hazardous after the snow arrives.

Accumulated snow on untreated roads and gusty winds may cause whiteout conditions and motorists are advised to drive carefully as visibility may be low. Environment Canada suggests motorists reduce speed and allow for extra time to reach their destination.

A cold front extending across Southern Ontario Tuesday morning will bring more flurries and a return to cooler temperatures.

Jeff Martin, The Associated Press

ATLANTA – Photos and mementoes that were snatched up and blown hundreds of miles during a Southern tornado outbreak two years ago are giving researchers new insight on how debris is carried by the storms and how it could threaten the public.

A new study has documented how one photo travelled nearly 220 miles over Alabama and Tennessee, said John Knox, an associate professor of geography at the University of Georgia who led the research. That is among the longest-documented trajectories of tornado debris.

The slightly scratched snapshot, which shows a stream flowing through a mountainous landscape, travelled from the northwest Alabama town of Phil Campbell to the east Tennessee town of Lenoir City.

The study was recently published online by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

It tracked the direction the items travelled in relation to the storms that struck Alabama and other Southern states on April 27, 2011.

The researchers analyzed the takeoff and landing points of the items using geography software and mathematical models.

Most debris fell slightly to the left of the storm’s track. But the items that travelled the farthest were found to the right of the path.

Knowing where the debris is likely to fall could help protect the public if a tornado were to strike a hazardous site and suck up toxic biological or radioactive debris, Knox said.

“We need to get enough understanding so we can get fairly reasonable predictions of where the stuff goes,” said John Snow, a professor of meteorology and dean emeritus at the University of Oklahoma who studied tornado debris in the 1990s. Knox’s study builds on research done by Snow and others.

Though nuclear reactors are designed to withstand the force of tornadoes, radioactive materials such as fuel rods are often stored nearby, Snow said. A direct hit on such material is one of many catastrophic scenarios involving tornado-blown debris.

Tornadoes have struck toxic materials in the past. In May 2008, a twister slammed into some of the mountains of mining waste that dot the landscape of Oklahoma’s Tar Creek Superfund site.

Joshua Wurman, an atmospheric scientist who founded the Center for Severe Weather Research in Boulder, Colo., was not involved in the Georgia research but thinks it could have benefits.

“Let’s say a tornado struck some kind of toxic waste dump. Sure, some of the debris or dust would have some contaminants in that,” Wurman said. “Understanding which direction those contaminants would go could be useful.”

The 934 objects studied by Knox and his students were posted on a Facebook page and later claimed by their owners.

Patty Bullion created the site hours after the tornadoes struck, when several photos and scraps of paper were found in her neighbourhood in the northern Alabama town of Lester. She began posting the pictures on her site. Around 2,000 of those photos and documents eventually were claimed by their owners and returned to them. That gave the researchers a gold mine of raw data on which to build.

“I was very thankful that the page could be a help,” Bullion said. “I never dreamed that it would send as many pictures home as it did and then help with research like that. God works in mysterious ways.”

Bullion has since taken down the Facebook site. The items pictured there are highly personal, she said, and she didn’t want them to be on Facebook forever.

The historic 2011 tornado outbreak in the South, combined with Bullion’s social media effort, represented a unique opportunity for the new study, Knox said.

On April 27, 2011, more than 120 tornadoes caused more than 300 deaths across the South.

The items studied from the 2011 outbreak represent “just a small cross section of debris that just carpeted the Southeast,” said Knox. “What was amazing was that there was so much debris that went so far.”

An earlier study on tornado debris by Snow and his colleagues identified only two objects that had travelled about 134 miles. By contrast, the Georgia study identified 44 items that travelled a comparable distance or farther.

The nearly 220 miles covered by the landscape photo sucked up by one of the Alabama tornadoes rivals the path taken by a cancelled check from Stockton, Kan., which was struck by a tornado in 1991. The check was carried 223 miles from Kansas to a farm near Winnetoon, Neb., according to records from the World Meteorological Organization.

Knox and his students categorized the items by weight. Among the heavier items, a Hackleburg Panthers cheerleading jacket flew from Hackleburg, Ala. to Elkmont, Ala., a distance of about 66 miles.

Many of the items held deep significance to their owners, such as the metal sign that used to hang above the bleachers of the high school football stadium in Smithville, Miss.

The sign was a tribute to former Smithville marching band member Lee Frederick, who had died of bone cancer in 1998. It was found in Russellville, Ala. — approximately 50 miles away — about a month after one of the tornadoes destroyed Smithville High’s stadium and much of the town.

Knox said the response from his students, who became co-authors of the research paper, was phenomenal.

Knox said he sought to teach them how to conduct the research in a way that was ethical and sensitive to the victims since the tornadoes destroyed lives and homes.

“Hopefully that’s a message that the students will take with them,” he said. “In this case, we had people whose houses were destroyed and the family members killed and the only thing they may have gotten back was a picture of Grandma and Grandpa that went 150 miles into another state.”

Freezing rain forecasts have caused the cancellation this morning of flights between Windsor and Pelee Island.

Environment Canada is predicting snow mixed with ice pellets this morning, changing to rain this afternoon.

Another 2 cm of snow is expected Tuesday, with clouds and light flurries continuing through to Thursday.

Jay Lindsay, The Associated Press

BOSTON – A last blast of winter blew through the Northeast on Tuesday, with snow and sleet delaying the start of school in some areas and making the morning commute an icy, slippery mess a day before spring starts.

The nasty weather led some schools in upstate New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut to close, adding a few more snow days to school calendars.

The winter storm that started overnight Monday and early Tuesday might even continue into Tuesday night for northern areas. Snow is expected to cover newly bare patches of ground and force people to gas up their snow blowers again on the last day of winter.

At Ashburnham True Value Hardware, in north-central Massachusetts, employee Andrew Stanley said he hadn’t noticed extra sales of shovels and salt, though the National Weather Service forecast 7 to 19 inches of a mix of snow and sleet. He did hear a little grumbling, though.

“Everybody’s about sick of winter,” he said Monday.

But some were welcoming the forecast, as the coming storm looked to extend the ski season. Just a year ago this week, local temperatures hit the 80s, prompting skiers in Maine to strip down to shorts and bikini tops and forcing an end to the season at many mountains.

At Sugarbush Resort in Vermont, communications manager Patrick Brown said more snow now could make spring the best time of year for many.

“Skiers like both of those things: great sunny warm days and lots of snow,” Brown said.

The forecasts called for as much as 20 inches of snow in parts of northern New England, with lesser amounts mixed with sleet further south. Boston and Providence, R.I., could each get 4-8 inches, and Hartford, Conn., 4-8 inches of snow and sleet. Portland, Maine, could get at least a foot of snow. Montpelier, Vt., was expecting at least 10 to 18 inches, and Concord, N.H., 7 to 13 inches. But those totals could go much higher if the storm continues into Tuesday night.

The likelihood of school cancellations Tuesday led Massachusetts officials to postpone the English composition section of its standardized state test until next Monday, to keep all schools on the same test date. Boston, which kept schools open for the most recent storm, cancelled classes for Tuesday.

After a storm earlier this month dumped over a foot of snow in some areas and caused coastal flooding in Massachusetts, some New Englanders weren’t looking forward to more winter weather.

In downtown Concord, N.H., Jennifer Hutchins said: “I hate it … I guess I like to watch it fall, but I don’t like when it sticks around.”

“I’m tired of it,” said Paula Lochhead. “But we live in New Hampshire, what are you gonna do?”

___

Associated Press writers Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine; Lisa Rathke in Montpelier, VT., and Morgan True in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report.

With temperatures a staggering 37 degrees lower than they were on the first day of spring last year, The Star hit the streets to find out if Windsorites still like the cold or if they’re ready for Mother Nature to move on to spring.

“I’m more of a spring and fall person actually,” said Colleen Warren while sitting with her friend Jerri White at the bus stop. “I’m enjoying the cold as long as it doesn’t snow.”

Ikram Mohamed, on the other hand, said she’s more than ready for spring to make its appearance.

“I have kids, so it would be nice if they can play at the playground without freezing to death,” she said.

Byron Klingbyle agreed, adding that as winter drags on, the winter blues start to get to everyone.

“I have a pool too, and I can’t wait to get in it, so that kind of prolongs it,” he said.

Penny Madge stopped on her way to church to tell us she’s more than ready for Monther Nature to move on to spring. (Taylor Renkema/ Special to The Star)

Penny Madge had no hesitation, saying “the snow is awful, I thought by now we would have nice hot weather.”

Much of Canada seems to be feeling a last gasp of winter, including Eastern Ontario, which in some places saw upwards of 14 cm of snow on Tuesday –  the last official day of winter.

Ah, spring in Windsor-Essex: Flowers are in bloom, the sun finds its strength, people shed their winter clothes. Oh wait, that was last year.

Wednesday may have been the first official day of the season, but you wouldn’t have known it from the weather, with flurries and frigid conditions that felt like — 10 C with the wind chill, according to Environment Canada.

Thursday morning isn’t expected to be any better, with the Weather Network forecasting a low of — 6 that should feel like — 13 with the wind chill.

It’s hard to imagine that on the first day of spring in 2012, the region was basking in a record-breaking high of 27.

“What a difference a year makes,” said Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips.

However, Phillips pointed out that this week’s weather is closer to normal than the glorious warmth we experienced 365 days ago.

On average, the first day of spring in Windsor-Essex has a high of 7.3 and a low of — 1.7.

The coldest it’s ever been here on March 20 was in 1986, when the thermometer dipped to — 10.7.

And, historically speaking, there’s been a 45 per cent chance of precipitation on this date in this region.

“Last year was an aberration,” Phillips said. “One of the most incredible anomalies we’ve ever seen in March. And it wasn’t just a one-day wonder — we went for nine or 10 days where the temperature got above 20 C.”

That may have been an enjoyable time for the general public, but Phillips said it created big problems for agriculture: apple and grape growers especially found that their plants were tricked into blossoming prematurely, only to be hit with frost in April.

The truth, Phillips said, is that nature doesn’t much care about the first day of spring. “More often than not, you’re counting snowflakes in April,” he said — noting that five more centimetres of snow fall on Windsor-Essex over the next month on average.

Phillips believes that a gradual warmup, as is expected this spring, is for the best: “You don’t want a sudden wall of warmth that can create issues, where you’re blessing it now but cursing it later.”

But if this past winter has felt longer and more cruel than usual, you’re only half imagining it. Phillips said there was about 15 per cent more snow this year than typical (130 centimetres in all), but the overall temperature was about one degree above average.

Phillips suggested that the reason people may have found this winter to be more wearisome is because the season had a “slow beginning” — December and January were warmer than normal, but February and March have been colder than normal.

“The back end was tougher than the front end,” Phillips said. “Almost half of the snow this winter fell in February.”

dchen@windsorstar.com

Follow me on Twitter: @WinStarChen

Crocus flowers reach for the sun amid snow at a South Windsor home on Mar. 20, 2013. (Jason Kryk / The Windsor Star)

A pile of snow in downtown Windsor, Ont. on Mar. 20, 2013 – the first day of spring for the year. (Dalson Chen / The Windsor Star)

Oh, what a difference a year makes…

Justing Johnston (L) and Austin Thornton (R) play basketball at Hugh Beaton Public School in Windsor, Ont. on Mar. 13, 2012. (Dax Melmer / The Windsor Star)

Jacqueline Surgent-Nantais (L) and Terry Hayward (R) rollerblade at Dieppe Park on Mar. 14, 2012. (Nick Brancaccio / The Windsor Star)

Ashley Foster (L) and Trevor Martynse (R) take a walk in Windsor, Ont. on Mar. 14, 2012. (Nick Brancaccio / The Windsor Star)

A crowd enjoys pleasant spring weather on Windsor’s downtown riverfront on Mar. 18, 2012. (Dax Melmer / The Windsor Star)

A daffodil blooms on Windsor’s riverfront on Mar. 20, 2012. (Tyler Brownbridge / The Windsor Star)

City parks worker Chris Lundy cuts grass in Windsor, Ont. in this Mar. 21, 2012 file photo. (Dan Janisse / The Windsor Star)

Kaydence Pedreira blows bubbles in downtown Windsor, Ont. in this Mar. 22, 2012 file photo. (Dan Janisse / The Windsor Star)

Chris Purdy, The Canadian Press

A spring blizzard blasted through the Prairies on Thursday, killing three and causing a chaotic series of crashes south of Edmonton involving at least 100 vehicles.

A 23-year-old woman, a four-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy were killed Thursday morning when the compact car they were in crashed head-on with a truck about 180 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. Three others were seriously injured.

Mounties say it was snowing heavily at the time and visibility was poor.

The driver of the truck, a 46 year-old male, is facing several charges, including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.

South of Edmonton, road conditions weren’t any better. Mounties say just before noon, multiple collisions happened within a half-kilometre of each other. At least 100 vehicles were involved and at least 45 vehicles were damaged, say police.

“And from that collision we ended up getting a chain reaction, so multiple other collisions occurred from there, due to the poor visibility and the icy roads,” said Const. Karolina Malik.

About 22 people went to area hospitals, including a man with serious injuries. The RCMP said the man was outside his vehicle after being involved in a collision and he was found under a semi-trailer.

Kerry Williamson, with Alberta Health Services, said Thursday that about 80 others were treated at the crash site for minor to moderate injuries.

Vehicles litter Highway 2 near Leduc, Alta. on Thursday March 21, 2013. A blizzard that has been blasting through the Prairies is being blamed for a multi-vehicle crash south of Edmonton that has injured about 100 people. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephanie Williams

The crashes involved a large passenger bus and several semi-trucks.

Robert Mitchell was on a Greyhound bus at the time.

“It was like a domino effect — one vehicle after another, just smashing, smashing, smashing until about 60-70 cars,” he told CTV Edmonton.

A cattle liner carrying 74 head of cattle was involved in the monstrous crash. Police said late Thursday that the cattle were being transferred to another cattle liner. Two cattle, however, were injured in the crash and had to be put down.

“The cattle have been in this liner since about noon today and finally they’ve gotten another liner there and they have to get these 60-worked up cattle out and into a new one,” said Cpl. Colette Zazalak.

A bus passenger tweeted a photo of the mayhem, calling it a massive pileup, but adding that everyone on the bus was all right.

“Hitchhiking my way to Edmonton via Wetaskiwin on country roads,” Derek Fildebrandt wrote in another tweet. “Found a Tim Hortons. There is a God.”

Paramedics, EMS crews and firefighters trudged through the snow, going from vehicle to vehicle, to check on those inside, Williamson said.

They commandeered three Greyhound buses on the highway and used them as triage centres, he said. Police also escorted four Edmonton transit buses to the scene to provide shelter to motorists who were stranded.

STARS air ambulance had to turn down requests to ferry patients because of the bad weather, said spokesman Cam Heke. The helicopters simply couldn’t get in the air.

RCMP closed a 60-kilometre stretch of Highway 2 — the main road between Edmonton and Calgary — and redirected traffic away from the scene. The highway was reopened in both directions just before midnight MDT, about 12 hours after the crashes.

Police said “treacherous” road conditions remained on the QE II south of Edmonton, all the way to Red Deer.

“Unless travel is absolutely critical, police request the public stay off all area highways,” police said.

Mounties in Saskatchewan also issued travel warnings and closed highways due to heavy snow, winds and icy conditions.

“There has been instances of people driving past these warnings getting stranded, even cases of barricades being moved and then continuing on past road closed signs,” said RCMP Regina Sgt. Doug Coleman.

“This storm is of such severity that it makes it difficult to impossible even for emergency personnel to be on the roads.”

Coleman said in a news release that people were stranded on the Trans-Canada Highway overnight Wednesday, and officers couldn’t get out to get them until Thursday morning.

Police said numerous motorists were stranded on Highway 17 north of Lloydminster on the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary.

Traffic in both directions was at a standstill because of a snowdrift 100 metres long and more than half a metre deep.

Highway crews attempted to remove the drift, but blowing snow just drifted over the road again.

Amanda Lee Myers and Mark Scolforo/The Associated Press

CINCINNATI — Famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil might want to go back into hibernation.

Authorities in still-frigid Ohio have issued an “indictment” of the furry rodent, who predicted an early spring when he didn’t see his shadow after emerging from his western Pennsylvania lair on Feb. 2.

“Punxsutawney Phil did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the people to believe that spring would come early,” Mike Gmoser, the prosecutor in southwestern Ohio’s Butler County, wrote in an official-looking indictment.

Gmoser wrote that Punxsutawney Phil is charged with misrepresentation of spring, which constitutes a felony “against the peace and dignity of the state of Ohio.”

The penalty Phil faces? Gmoser says — tongue firmly in cheek — is death.

Punxsutawney Phil does not have a listed phone number.

Bill Deeley, president of the Punxsutawney club that organizes Groundhog Day, said Phil has a lawyer and would fight any extradition attempt by Ohio authorities.

Deeley defended his fur-bearing associate and said the death penalty was “very harsh” given the nature of the allegations.

“We’ll have to plead our case one way or the other, but I think we can beat the rap,” Deeley said.

The vitriolic backlash on social media to Phil’s dead-wrong prognostication has not gone unnoticed in and around Gobbler’s Knob, Deeley said, and special security precautions were in place.

“Right next to where Phil stays is the police station,” he said. “They’ve been notified and they said they will keep watching their monitors.”

Winter has been dragging on in the Buckeye State and surrounding areas, with daily high temperatures this week hovering in the mid-30s and no end in sight for about 10 days, said Don Hughes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio.

A storm moving into the region Sunday could bring between 4 and 8 inches of snow, he said.

“It’s taking too long,” Hughes said, adding that he’s hearing plenty of complaints from colleagues and neighbours about the late spring. “Most people I’ve talked to say they’ve had enough. They want spring. They’re looking for colours and sunshine and Easter lilies.”

Heather Hollingsworth, The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An early spring snowstorm forced the cancellation of more than 100 flights at Denver International Airport and closed several roads Saturday as it moved eastward, dumping more than a foot of snow in some places.

The snow started falling around midnight in northeast Colorado and then moved into northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska.

Ten to 15 inches of snowfall had fallen by late Saturday morning north of Interstate 70 in northwest Kansas and northeast Colorado, with an additional 3 inches expected in the area, said Jerry Killingsworth, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. The interstate had been shut down Saturday from Denver to Colby, Kan., because of poor visibility. The northbound lanes of Interstate 25 also were closed south of Fort Collins, Colo., because of multiple accidents.

“It’s a mess here,” said Killingsworth, who is based in Goodland, Kan., which had received 14 inches. “Heavy, wet snow, tree limbs down.”

As the system moved eastward, it threatened to inconvenience fans attending the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament in Kansas City.

Pamela Murray, a meteorologist in Pleasant Hill, Mo., said Kansas City and western Missouri would see light showers and drizzle before the precipitation switched over to snow Saturday afternoon. The heaviest snowfall was expected overnight.

Dan Gavitt, vice-president of the NCAA men’s basketball championships, said teams and officials already are onsite and that no game delays are anticipated.

“This region routinely has winter snow and has the appropriate equipment and procedures to manage these winter conditions,” Gavitt said in written statement. “We encourage fans planning to attend games to pay attention to the weather, use good judgment and follow any directions from local authorities regarding travel and weather.”

North Carolina coach Roy Williams was nonplussed.

“It’s no distraction, unless the roof goes off, we’ll still be able to play and the whole bit like that,” Williams said.

Elsewhere, some churches and other organizations were calling off events. Among them, the final game of the Emporia State baseball series with Southwest Baptist was cancelled.

Denver International Airport spokesman Heath Montgomery Heath Montgomery said about 106 flights have been cancelled, many of which involved commuter jets headed to nearby destinations or to mountain towns.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center said up to a foot of new snow in the mountains could create dangerous avalanche conditions.

Colorado State Patrol troopers also spent part of Saturday working a crash near Johnstown involving a tractor-trailer that burst into flames. An estimated 20 to 50 vehicles, including four tractor-trailers, crashed or slid off the roadway in the area. The patrol said several people were hospitalized, but no fatalities have been reported.

The system will move into Illinois and Indiana overnight and into Sunday.

Meteorologist Dan Smith with the National Weather Service in Lincoln, Ill., said snowstorms aren’t uncommon in early spring. The latest the area has seen snow, he said, was April 23, in 1910.

“One good thing about them is it doesn’t matter how much you get, it usually doesn’t stick around too long because temperatures start to warm up pretty good,” he said.

Farther south, tornadoes were possible in Louisiana and Mississippi, while strong winds and low humidity could lead to forest fires and wildfires in parts of New Mexico and west Texas.

___

Associated Press writers Jason Keyser in Chicago, Thomas Peipert in Denver and David Skretta in Kansas City, Mo., contributed to this report.

While this week’s weather forecast may have people asking where spring is, one Canadian weather expert says we should consider ourselves lucky.

Environment Canada reported Tuesday that southern Ontario could receive up to 80 millimetres of precipitation by Thursday, including heavy rain, snow or ice pellets.

Last year Windsor saw 18.5 millimetres of rain during the second week of April, according to The Weather Network.

Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips said we might end up only seeing one dry day in Windsor, Sunday, with more precipitation after that, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“What we’re seeing is a series of storms lined up like jumbo jets on a tarmac,” said Phillips. “The good news is we’ve seen less precipitation this year from September to the present, so we’ve had about three-quarters of the rain” that was expected, said Phillips.

He said  the current ground conditions could reduce the impact of receiving large amounts of rain in a short period of time.

“The ground isn’t frozen. If it was frozen the water wouldn’t go anywhere, it would run off and fill basements and streets and intersections,” said Phillips. “The ground can take some of this surplus moisture.

“You could say you’re fortunate because you’ll get it all at one time rather than over the course of the month.”

Temperatures are expected to drop to a low of 0 C by the weekend and Phillips said if Windsor gets snow, that would be the time. He said not to count on it staying, though.

“We tend to think that because we’re in April there will be no snow. It’s not usually a big dumping, just a little amount. But typically it’s here today and gone tomorrow,” said Phillips. “In 73 years Windsor has only seen five Aprils with no snow.”

While Phillips said there is little chance for snow accumulation in Windsor, the more north you go the more likely you are to get colder temperatures and ice pellets, he said.

“Unlike last year where we went from winter to summer, this is a legitimate spring. More warm days combined with temperature fluctuations created killing frost that killed grapes and apples trees (last season). That hurt farmers,” said Phillips. “What people usually think of when they talk about spring are those warm days when people can go golfing or put the boat in the water. We’re just going to have to be more patient.”

Environment Canada will  issue weather warnings if conditions worsen.

Art and Celina Ussoletti and their daughter Ceana watch a high school soccer game on a cold and wet Tuesday, April 9, 2013, at the Sandwich Secondary School in LaSalle, Ont. More rain is expected in the next few days. (DAN JANISSE/The Windsor Star)

Severe weather season is approaching, and Andre Chiasson couldn’t be happier.

Chiasson, 47, has been chasing storms for the last 30 years. His interest in the weather began after he witnessed a massive storm from his home when he was six years old.

“That dark sky stuck with me. As I got older, part of it was the sense of the power of a storm as it’s approaching,” said Chiasson. “It’s something the size of Mt. Everest that just shows up and could destroy the entire community just by using water vapors and temperatures and wind.”

Chiasson’s storm chasing began at age 17 when he following a storm down to the Detroit River and watched as it formed over the Motor City. As a teenager he was able to convince his friends to tag along with him to watch, but has since gained two unlikely co-pilots: his daughters Tasha, 22, and Chaila, 11.

“My youngest one is really good at map reading. My oldest one, we’ve gone on a few good chases and she does the same thing. So it’s also a good family bonding time, that’s for sure,” Chiasson said with a laugh.

Three years ago Chiasson became a storm spotter for Environment Canada. Storm spotters are trained to recognize weather conditions that could mean a severe storm is approaching. The spotter reports the conditions to Environment Canada, and this information is relayed to communities in the storm’s path.

Local storm chaser Andre Chiasson looks at photographs of storms he’s documented at The Coffee Exchange April 9, 2013. (Photo by/Adam D’Andrea)

Although Chiasson loves the excitement of watching a severe storm, he said he became a storm spotter because he doesn’t want to see people get hurt. Chiasson said storms pose hazards that people might not initially consider, such shrapnel and other flying debris.

“Lightning actually struck a tree right next to my work. I mean, the tiny pieces of bark just go flying,” Chiasson said.

“Also, hail hurts. I’ve opened the door just to look at the weather when it was hailing. Just one hit my hand and it felt like a hammer.”

Since starting his hobby, Chiasson said the only time a storm has frightened him was seven years ago in Ohio while driving down the interstate highway.

“It was like there was a fire hose being sprayed on your front window,” said Chiasson. “There were two semi-trucks off the side of the road lying on their sides. The debris of tree branches was all over the road. I’d never seen such violence from a storm before.”

Lightning strikes over Fort Malden in Amherstburg as a storm passes through Windsor and the surrounding area, Thursday, Mar. 15, 2012. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)

As the season for severe weather approaches, Chiasson said the best way to prepare is to keep track of forecasts throughout the day.

“Watch the weather in the morning, watch the Weather Network. Learn how to understand what the Doppler radars are showing,” said Chiasson. “Also, know where your kids are if severe weather is predicted for that day.”

Another way Chiasson recommended to prepare is to stop relying on old myths, such as opening windows to equalize air pressure in your home during a tornado.

“You’re wasting time by doing that. If a tornado’s going to pick a truck up and throw it into your house, an open window isn’t going to be much help.”

While they may seem like a bunch of reckless daredevils to the average person, Chiasson said he and his fellow storm chasers aren’t just a bunch of thrill-seekers.

“That’s not the case at all. A lot of us are out there just for the experience, self-education or community service,” said Chiasson. “So be easy on us storm chasers, we’re not all nuts.”

Local storm chaser Andre Chiasson looks at photographs of storms he’s documented at The Coffee Exchange April 9, 2013. (Photo by/Adam D’Andrea)

Bob Moen, The Associated Press

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – A chilly spring storm was making its way eastward Wednesday after heavy snow and freezing rain prompted hundreds of flight cancellations, stranded motorists and knocked out power to thousands in several Western states.

Officials in South Dakota warned residents to prepare for the worst by staying home and keeping off roads as the system moved through the eastern part of the state.

“We need to hunker down,” Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether said Tuesday. “This one is going to last a while.”

The storm crawled eastward Tuesday night from Colorado and Wyoming, with moderate snowfall forecast overnight from the Dakotas to Wisconsin. Nebraska, where strong winds caused a train derailment in the eastern part of the state earlier in the day, also was expecting more snow.

Freezing rain, low temperatures and strong thunderstorms were forecast elsewhere in the Midwest.

Officials in Wyoming and South Dakota closed portions of major highways as blowing snow decreased visibility and freezing rain made roads treacherous. Up to a foot of snow fell in southwestern North Dakota on Monday, causing several vehicle accidents.

“Spring storms are not unusual, but they can be very dangerous,” said Greg Fuller, operations director for the Transportation Department.

April snowstorms aren’t unusual in Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West, but the storm comes after a rather tame winter in many areas. The National Weather Service said Cheyenne’s high of 12 degrees Tuesday was the coldest on record for April 9. The previous record was 23 degrees set in 1997.

“I’m pretty confident that this particular storm is more widespread and has caused more travel problems and closures than any storm we’ve had this calendar year certainly,” said Bruce Burrows, spokesman for the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

The storm hit California and Arizona on Monday with strong wind and rain, knocking out power to thousands and kicking up a dusty haze in the metropolitan Phoenix area. It moved into Colorado, where two unconfirmed tornadoes were reported near Akron and strong gusts felled trees and power lines. More than six inches of snow fell at Denver International Airport, where hundreds of flights were cancelled and others were delayed.

Wind rolled a trailer home onto its top and a roof blew off a barn, Washington County undersheriff Jon Stivers said. A motorcycle dealership partially collapsed in Pueblo, Colo., where winds gusted to 64 mph.

In Wyoming’s Sweetwater County, gusts up to 71 mph damaged a marina at Flaming Gorge Reservoir and broke windows at the Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, according to the National Weather Service.

In parts of the Dakotas, officials cancelled classes and many local governments closed offices. In South Dakota, Secretary of State Jason Gant said more than two dozen cities and school districts informed him they were delaying elections for a week.

Up to a foot of snow fell in southwestern North Dakota, along with freezing rain and sleet. An oil tanker crashed near South Heart, just south of Interstate 94 west of Dickinson, and spilled what authorities called a minimal amount of oil into the ditch.

Interstate 90 was closed between Rapid City and Sioux Falls, and transportation officials will determine which, if any, stretches can reopen.

Weather Service meteorologist Todd Heitkamp in Sioux Falls said that office had reports of ice accumulations from one-quarter of an inch up to nearly half an inch, leading to power outages and widespread tree damage. As much as 10 to 16 inches of snow was expected north and west of the city.

“That’s going to add to the weight of the trees, to the power lines,” Heitkamp said. “Then we get the wind on top of that and then we get the snow on top of that. You can envision what can possibly occur.”

UPDATE: A tornado watch has been issued for Southeast Michigan and the surrounding area by the National Weather Service, and will remain in effect until 6 p.m. Thursday.

Environment Canada has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Windsor and Essex County.

The Environment Canada website says “meteorologists are tracking a line of severe thunderstorms capable of producing large hail, damaging winds, torrential downpours, and frequent cloud to ground lightning. These storms are moving eastward at 80 km/h and are expected to cross the border from Michigan beginning just after 2:45 p.m.”

The Environment Canada website says these storms could produce heavy rainfall and could contain “large hail and damaging winds”.

This NOAA satellite image taken Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 1:45 a.m. EDT shows a stationary front across the Mid Atlantic with scattered showers. Low pressure is affecting a large part of the Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes, and the Plains. A line of strong to severe thunderstorms extends from southern Michigan all the way southwest to southwestern Texas. Snow is occurring across the eastern Dakotas, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Light to moderate rain is found over Wisconsin, northern Illinois, eastern Kansas, and northern Missouri.(AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)

It looks like Mother Nature is making up for the delayed arrival of spring with an abundance of April showers.

The high for Thursday afternoon is 25 C, and showers are expected to continue through to Friday with winds gusting up to 50 km/h.

Windsorites can expect lots of clouds on Saturday along with a 60 per cent chance of flurries, a low of minus 1C and a high of plus 6C.

Forecasters are predicting sun on Sunday with a high of 9C, and low of minus 2C.

The rain will continue next week as well, with showers expected Monday through to Wednesday.
Find Windsor Star on Facebook

Rob Benneian / For The Windsor Star

Windsor will escape with just a dusting of frost on what Environment Canada officials are calling “the coldest day of the month.”

Environment Canada issued a frost warning for Windsor, Leamington and Essex County. The frost is caused by a very cold air mass moving through the region Sunday, but by Monday officials say the Windsor should be entering recovery mode.

“As the winds drop off and the skies clear that’s going to be perfect (conditions) for frost to form,” said Robert Kuhn, a severe weather meteorologist for Environment Canada. “The exception is the extreme southwest, the Windsor and Sarnia area.”

Originally, the warning called for worse conditions Monday that would pose a “significant threat” to sensitive plants, but the threat appears to have passed.

Kuhn described recent temperatures in Windsor prior to the warning as “golf weather” and said he was confident this will be the last cold spell for the region.

The mercury dipped to 1C Monday morning, but temperatures are expected to rebound later in the week with a high of 25 C projected for Wednesday.

By Tim Talley, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOORE, Okla. — A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods with winds up to 200 mph, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. At least 51 people were reported killed.

The storm laid waste to scores of buildings in Moore, south of the city. Block after block of the community lay in ruins. Homes were crushed into piles of broken wood. Cars and trucks were left crumpled on the roadside.

The National Weather Service issued an initial finding that the tornado was an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale, the second most-powerful type of twister.

Authorities expected the death toll to rise as emergency crews moved deeper into the hardest-hit areas. At least 60 people were reported hurt, including more than a dozen children.

Rescuers mounted a desperate rescue effort at the school, pulling children from heaps of debris and carrying them to a triage center.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with search-and-rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers.

Fallin also spoke with President Barack Obama, who offered the nation’s help and gave Fallin a direct line to his office.

Many land lines to stricken areas were down and cellphone traffic was congested. The storm was so massive that it will take time to establish communications between rescuers and state officials, the governor said.

In video of the storm, the dark funnel cloud could be seen marching slowly across the green landscape. As it churned through the community, the twister scattered shards of wood, pieces of insulation, awnings, shingles and glass all over the streets.

Volunteers and first responders raced to search the debris for survivors.

At Plaza Towers Elementary School, the storm tore off the roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal.

Several children were pulled alive from the rubble. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain to the triage center in the parking lot.

James Rushing, who lives across the street from the school, heard reports of the approaching tornado and ran to the school, where his 5-year-old foster son, Aiden, attends classes. Rushing believed he would be safer there.

“About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart,” he said.

The students were placed in the restroom.

Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson said downed power lines and open gas lines posed a risk in the aftermath of the system.

Monday’s powerful tornado loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999.

The weather service estimated that the storm that Monday’s tornado was at least a half-mile wide. The 1999 storm had winds clocked at 300 mph.

Kelsey Angle, a weather service meteorologist in Kansas City, Mo., said it’s unusual for two such powerful tornadoes to track roughly the same path.

Monday’s devastation in Oklahoma came almost exactly two years after an enormous twister ripped through the city of Joplin, Mo., killing 158 people and injuring hundreds more.

That May 22, 2011, tornado was the deadliest in the United States since modern tornado record keeping began in 1950, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Before Joplin, the deadliest modern tornado was June 1953 in Flint, Mich., when 116 people died.

A child is carried from the rubble of the Plaza Towers Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

A boy is pulled from beneath a collapsed wall at the Plaza Towers Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/ Sue Ogrocki)

A woman carries a child through a field near the collapsed Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. The relationship between the woman and the child was not immediately known. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

A child is pulled from beneath a collapsed wall at the Plaza Towers Elementary School in following a tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

A boy is pulled from beneath a collapsed wall at the Plaza Towers Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

A child calls to his father after being pulled from the rubble of the Tower Plaza Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

Rescue workers dig through the rubble of a collapsed wall at the Plaza Tower Elementary School to free trapped students in Moore, Okla., following a tornado Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

Rescue workers dig through the rubble of a collapsed wall at the Plaza Tower Elementary School to free trapped students in Moore, Okla., following a tornado Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

Onlookers watch as children are pulled from the rubble of the Plaza Towers Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

A woman is pulled out from under tornado debris at the Plaza Towers School in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometres) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school.(AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

A child is pulled from the rubble of the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., and passed along to rescuers Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school.(AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

A television screen grab of what is being reported as the remains of an elementary school devastated by a tornado Monday afternoon in Oklahoma City. (Photograph by: CNN, TV screen grab)

This photo provided by KFOR-TV shows a car pile-up outside Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A monstrous tornado as much as a mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/KFOR-TV)

A woman is pulled out from under tornado debris at the Plaza Towers School in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometres) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school.(AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

This frame grab provided by KWTV shows a tornado in Oklahoma City Monday, May 20, 2013. Television footage shows flattened buildings and fires after a mile-wide tornado moved through the Oklahoma City area. (AP Photo/Courtesy KWTV)

This frame grab courtesy KFOR TV shows the aftermath of a massive tornado as much as a mile wide with winds up to 200 mph roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Courtesy KFOR TV)

This frame grab courtesy KFOR TV shows the aftermath of a massive tornado as much as a mile wide with winds up to 200 mph roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Courtesy KFOR TV)

A woman carries an injured child to a triage centre near the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

This photo provided by KFOR-TV shows a house fire outside Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A monstrous tornado as much as a mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/KFOR-TV)

This photo provided by KFOR-TV shows a house fire outside Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A monstrous tornado as much as a mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/KFOR-TV)

This photo provided by KFOR-TV shows homes flattened outside Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A monstrous tornado as much as a mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/KFOR-TV)

Kay Taylor stands with her dog Bailey in front of her house that was destroyed after the tornado that hit the area near 149th and Drexel on Monday, May 20, 2013 in Oklahoma City, Okla. (AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Chris Landsberger)

By Tim Talley, Associated Press

A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide roared through the suburbs of Oklahoma City on Monday, flattening neighbourhoods, leaving dozens of people dead and destroying an elementary school with the fury of winds that moved as fast as 320 km/h.

The storm laid waste to scores of buildings in Moore, a community of 41,000 people south of the city. Block after block lay in ruins. Homes were crushed into piles of broken wood. Cars and trucks were left crumpled on the roadside.

The National Weather Service issued an initial finding that the tornado was an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale, the second most-powerful type of twister.

A tornado moves past homes in Moore, Okla. on Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

At least 51 people were killed, and officials said the death toll was expected to rise. More than 120 people, meanwhile, were being treated at hospitals Monday night, including about 70 children.

Rescuers launched a desperate rescue effort at the school, pulling children from heaps of debris and carrying them to a triage centre.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with search-and-rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers.

Teachers carry children away from Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City, Okla, Monday, May 20, 2013. Near SW 149th and Hudson. (AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Paul Hellstern)

Fallin also spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama, who offered the nation’s help and gave Fallin a direct line to his office.

Many landlines to stricken areas were down and cellphone traffic was congested. The storm was so massive that it will take time to establish communications between rescuers and state officials, the governor said.

In video of the storm, the dark funnel cloud could be seen marching slowly across the green landscape. As it churned through the community, the twister scattered shards of wood, pieces of insulation, awnings, shingles and glass all over the streets.

Volunteers and first responders raced to search the debris for survivors.

At Plaza Towers elementary school, the storm tore off the roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal.

Children from the school were among the dead, but several students were pulled alive from the rubble. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain to the triage centre in the parking lot.

This aerial photo shows damage to Plaza Towers Elementary School after it was hit by a massive tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Steve Gooch)

James Rushing, who lives across the street from the school, heard reports of the approaching tornado and ran to the school, where his five-year-old foster son, Aiden, attends classes.

“About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart,” he said.

The students were placed in the restroom.

Douglas Sherman drove two blocks from his home to help rescue survivors.

“Just having those kids trapped in that school, that really turns the table on a lot of things,” he said.

Children wait for their parents to arrive at Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City, Okla, Monday, May 20, 2013. Near SW 149th and Hudson. (AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Paul Hellstern)

Tiffany Thronesberry said she got an alarming call from her mother, Barbara Jarrell, after the tornado.

“I got a phone call from her screaming, ‘Help! Help! I can’t breathe. My house is on top of me!’” Thronesberry said.

Thronesberry hurried to her mother’s house, where first responders had already pulled her out. Her mother was hospitalized for treatment for cuts and bruises.

Search and rescue efforts were to continue throughout the night.

Moore police dig through the rubble of the Plaza Towers Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson said downed power lines and open gas lines posed a risk in the aftermath of the system.

Monday’s powerful tornado loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999.

The weather service estimated that the storm that Monday’s tornado was at least a half-mile – or 0.8 kilometres – wide. The 1999 storm had winds clocked at more than 500 km/h.

Kelsey Angle, a weather service meteorologist in Kansas City, Mo., said it’s unusual for two such powerful tornadoes to track roughly the same path.

It was the fourth tornado to hit Moore since 1998. A twister also struck in 2003.

Monday’s devastation in Oklahoma came almost exactly two years after an enormous twister ripped through the city of Joplin, Mo., killing 158 people and injuring hundreds more.

That May 22, 2011, tornado was the deadliest in the U.S. since modern tornado record keeping began in 1950, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Before Joplin, the deadliest modern tornado was June 1953 in Flint, Mich., when 116 people died.

A fire burns in the Tower Plaza Addition in Moore, Okla., following a tornado Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

Philip Gotcher stands in the rubble of his house after a powerful tornado ripped through the area on May 20, 2013 in Moore, Oklahoma. The tornado, reported to be at least EF4 strength and two miles wide, touched down in the Oklahoma City area on Monday killing at least 51 people. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)

Dana Ulepich searches inside a room left standing at the back of her house destroyed after a powerful tornado ripped through the area on May 20, 2013 in Moore, Oklahoma. The tornado, reported to be at least EF4 strength and two miles wide, touched down in the Oklahoma City area on Monday killing at least 51 people. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)

Dana Ulepich looks at the debris from her house destroyed by a powerful tornado ripped through the area on May 20, 2013 in Moore, Oklahoma. The tornado, reported to be at least EF4 strength and two miles wide, touched down in the Oklahoma City area on Monday killing at least 51 people. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)

Chole Findley walks with her grandson Mark Williams as they leave the area where their home was destroyed after the tornado hit the area near 149th and Drexel on Monday, May 20, 2013 in Oklahoma City, Okla.(AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Chris Landsberger)

A security officer marks vehicles with spray paint after checking for victims and determining no one is inside, at a business complex west of Interstate 35, south of 4th Street in Moore, Okla., on Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Jim Beckel)

Allen Anderson surveys the damage to his home, Monday, May 20, 2013 in Moore, Okla. A monstrous tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs, flattening entire neighborhoods with winds up to 200 mph, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Steve Sisney)

JoAnn Anderson sorts through the rubble of her home after a tornado on Monday, May 20, 2013 in Moore, Okla. A monstrous tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs, flattening entire neighborhoods with winds up to 200 mph, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Steve Sisney)

Rescuers recover a horse from the remains of a day care center and destroyed barns, Monday, May 20, 2013 in Moore, Okla. A monstrous tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs, flattening entire neighborhoods with winds up to 200 mph, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Steve Sisney)

Two men walk through debris just east of Western and north of SW 149th after a tornado struck south Oklahoma City and Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Nate Billings)

People walk through a neighborhood south of SW 149th between Western and Hudson after a tornado struck south Oklahoma City and Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Nate Billings)

Mary Barnhill, left, sits next to her daughter-in-law Brenda Barnhill after a tornado destroyed the home of Brenda Barnhill and her husband Larry Barnhill, Mary’s son, near SW 149th and Vicki Dr., when a tornado struck south Oklahoma City and Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Nate Billings)

Magen Stanley, 5, walks away from her grandparents destroyed home after a tornado hit the area near 149th and Drexel on Monday, May 20, 2013 in Oklahoma City, Okla. (AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Chris Landsberger)

This aerial photo shows the remains of homes hit by a massive tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday May 20, 2013. A tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/Steve Gooch)

Diana Mehta/The Canadian Press

Get ready to break out the sunscreen Canada, but don’t worry about sizzling all season.

Meteorologists at AccuWeather.com say the majority of Canadians can look forward to a more “typical” summer this year, when hot spells will be interspersed with cooler periods.

“The biggest takeaway from this forecast is it’s not going to resemble last year’s summer, which was the warmest summer on record for Canada,” Brett Anderson, lead forecaster for Canada, told The Canadian Press.

“We’re going to see much more changeable weather. Yes, we will have spells of heat, we will have spells of very dry weather but we do not expect patterns where it’s going to lock in for weeks on end of hot dry weather.”

The season is still going to rank among the top-10 warmest summers on record though, but that’s largely due to recurring warmer-than-normal temperatures in the country’s far north.

A warmer than average summer predicted for much of Atlantic Canada has turned up as one of the surprises in the forecast, said Anderson.

“This summer is going to shape up to one they’re going to like,” he said, adding that a persistent high pressure system over the region and warmer-than-normal temperatures in the waters of the North Atlantic were expected to help keep temperatures fairly high.

“There’s going to be days when it cools down, it’s not going to be super persistent, but overall I think it ends up warmer than normal.”

Residents living in Montreal through to Quebec City can also expect the mercury to rise.

The high temperatures in Quebec will be a continuation of a warm, dry spring, which has resulted in less water evaporating from the ground — a process that has a cooling effect.

Meanwhile, the weather in southern Ontario is expected to be pleasant, with hot periods broken up by what’s expected to be welcome cooler days, although some thunderstorms are expected earlier in the season.

“Overall the humidity, the temperature, is going to be fairly pleasant across much of southern Ontario this summer,” said Anderson.”

“It looks like a comfortable summer coming up in that region.”

Moving west, regions from southern Saskatchewan to southern Alberta are expected to sweat it out for much of the season.

“We’re going to see some record heat there in the month of July,” said Anderson. “Areas south of Calgary I think are going to see some spells of very hot weather, perhaps record breaking temperatures.”

Residents living in areas between Edmonton, Winnipeg and the U.S. border should brace for a higher-than-normal amount of severe thunderstorms this summer, as well as some very warm spells.

Drier conditions are expected in much of southeastern British Columbia while the most balanced temperatures are predicted for Vancouver and southwestern parts of the province.

The soggiest spots this summer are likely to be the northern Prairies and areas of northwestern Ontario particularly around Lake Superior, including Thunder Bay and Sault Ste Marie.

“Folks in that region are going to be cooler, more stormier this summer. I don’t think they’ll be too happy,” said Anderson.

Areas of the northern coast of British Columbia are also expected to get a fair amount of rainfall this summer.

Despite this predictions that this year’s summer will be less of a boiler than last season, Anderson said Canadian summers in general have been getting hotter over time.

“Overall Canadian summers are getting warmer. We’ve seen an increase of 1.4 Celsius since records began in 1948,” he said. “Canadian summers are also getting a little bit wetter…part of that reason is also the warming of the far North.”

By Tim Talley, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOORE, Okla. — Emergency crews searched the broken remnants of an Oklahoma City suburb Tuesday for survivors of a massive tornado that flattened homes and demolished an elementary school. Authorities lowered the death toll to 24, down from 51, but warned those numbers were expected to climb back up.

Some victims are believed to have been counted twice in the early chaos of the storm, said Amy Elliot, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner’s office. Downed communication lines and problems sharing information with officers exacerbated the problem, she said.

The ferocious storm, clocking winds of up to 200 mph (320 km/h), ripped through the town of Moore in a central U.S. region known as Tornado Alley, reducing homes to piles of splintered wood. Less than one per cent of all tornadoes reach such wind speed.

In Washington, President Barack Obama pledged urgent government help for Oklahoma Tuesday in the wake of “one of the most destructive” storms in the nation’s history.

“In an instant neighbourhoods were destroyed, dozens of people lost their lives, many more were injured,” Obama said from the White House State Dining Room. “Among the victims were young children trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew — their school.”

The president added that the town of Moore “needs to get everything it needs right away.”

Spotlights bore down on massive piles of shredded cinder block, insulation and metal as crews worked through the night early Tuesday lifting bricks and parts of collapsed walls. Rescuers walked through neighbourhoods where Monday’s powerful twister flattened home after home and stripped leaves off of trees to see if they could hear any voices calling out from the rubble.

The storm left scores of blocks barren and dark in Moore, a community of 41,000 people 10 miles (16 kilometres) south of Oklahoma City. Rescuers walked through neighbourhoods where Monday’s powerful twister flattened home after home, to listen for any voices calling out from the rubble. A helicopter buzzed above, shining lights on crews below.

As Monday turned into Tuesday, Moore braced for another long, harrowing day.

“As long as we are here … we are going to hold out hope that we will find survivors,” said Trooper Betsy Randolph, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

More than 120 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 50 children.

Families anxiously waited at nearby churches to hear if their loved ones were OK. A man with a megaphone stood Monday evening near St. Andrews United Methodist Church and called out the names of surviving children. Parents waited nearby, hoping to hear their sons’ and daughters’ names.

While some parents and children hugged each other as they reunited, others were left to wait, fearing the worst as the night dragged on.

Crews continued their desperate search-and-rescue effort throughout the night at Plaza Towers Elementary, where the storm had ripped off the school’s roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal as students and teachers huddled in hallways and bathrooms.

Children from the school were among the dead, but several students were pulled out alive from under a collapsed wall and other heaps of mangled debris. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain of parents and neighbourhood volunteers. Parents carried children in their arms to a triage centre in the parking lot. Some students looked dazed, others terrified.

James Rushing, who lives across the street from the school, heard reports of the approaching twister and ran to the school where his five-year-old foster son, Aiden, attends classes. Rushing believed he would be safer there.

“About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart,” he said.

As dusk fell, heavy equipment rolled up to the school, and emergency workers wearing yellow crawled among the ruins, searching for survivors. Crews used jackhammers and sledgehammers to tear away concrete, and chunks were being thrown to the side as the workers dug.

Lea Bessinger and her son Josh Bessinger look through the rubble of her tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighbourhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Another school, Briarwood Elementary, was also damaged by the tornado, but not as extensively as Plaza Towers.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers. Fallin also spoke Monday with President Barack Obama, who declared a major disaster and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

In video of the storm, the dark funnel cloud could be seen marching slowly across the green landscape. As it churned through the community, the twister scattered shards of wood, awnings and glass all over the streets.

Zac and Denisha Woodcock look through the rubble of their tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighbourhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The tornado also destroyed the community hospital and some retail stores. Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis watched it pass through from his jewelry shop.

“All of my employees were in the vault,” Lewis said.

A map provided by the National Weather Service showed that the storm began west of Newcastle and crossed the Canadian River into Oklahoma City’s rural far southwestern side about 3 p.m. local time. When it reached Moore, the twister cut a path through the centre of town before lifting back into the sky at Lake Stanley Draper.

The National Weather Service issued an initial finding that the tornado was an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale, the second most-powerful type of twister.

Austin Brock holds cat Tutti, shortly after the animal was retrieved from the rubble of Brock’s home, which was demolished a day earlier when a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., Tuesday, May 21, 2013. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighbourhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

The Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma forecast more stormy weather on Tuesday, predicting golf ball-sized hail, powerful winds and isolated, strong tornadoes for parts of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The area at risk does not include Moore, Oklahoma.

Monday’s powerful tornado loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999.

The weather service estimated that Monday’s tornado was at least a half-mile (800 metres) wide. The 1999 storm had winds clocked at 300 mph.

Kelsey Angle, a weather service meteorologist in Kansas City, Mo., said it’s unusual for two such powerful tornadoes to track roughly the same path.

Lea Bessinger salvages a picture of Jesus as she and her son Josh Bessinger sort through the rubble of the elder Bessinger’s tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighbourhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

It was the fourth tornado to hit Moore since 1998. A twister also struck in 2003.

Monday’s devastation in Oklahoma came almost exactly two years after an enormous twister ripped through the city of Joplin, Mo., killing 158 people and injuring hundreds more.

That May 22, 2011, tornado was the deadliest in the United States since modern tornado record keeping began in 1950, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Before Joplin, the deadliest modern tornado was June 1953 in Flint, Mich., when 116 people died.

– Associated Press writers Tim Talley, Sean Murphy, Nomaan Merchant and Sue Ogrocki contributed to this report

• At least 51 dead as tornado wipes out Oklahoma City suburb
• Massive tornado roars through Oklahoma City suburb (with video)

Damaged vehicles from Monday’s tornado can be seen in the parking lot of the Moore Medical Center Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighbourhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

This aerial photo shows the remains of houses in Moore, Okla., following a tornado Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighbourhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school. (AP Photo/Steve Gooch)

A member of a security team helps guard an area of rubble from a destroyed residential neighbourhood, one day after a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighbourhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against the winds. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Headstones lie overturned in the Moore Cemetery after it was damaged by a tornado May 21, 2013 in Moore, Okla. The town reported a tornado of at least EF4 strength and two miles wide that touched down yesterday killing at least 24 people and leveling everything in its path. U.S. President Barack Obama promised federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)

Daniel Garbelman begins cleanup of his yard after it was damaged by a tornado May 21, 2013 in Moore, Okla. The town reported a tornado of at least EF4 strength and two miles wide that touched down yesterday killing at least 24 people and leveling everything in its path. U.S. President Barack Obama promised federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)