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Another powerful storm system swept across the Midwest and the Great Plains, bringing record-setting wind gusts and spawning over a dozen tornadoes. The storms caused at least five deaths in Minnesota, Kansas, and Iowa.
Three people were killed in a pair of car accidents in Kansas caused by a massive dust storm that made it nearly impossible to see. In Iowa, the high winds knocked a tractor-trailer onto its side, killing the driver. In Minnesota, a man was killed by a falling tree outside of his home.
The National Weather Service reported 55 instances of hurricane-force wind gusts, the most ever recorded in a single day. In addition, several areas in Colorado reported gusts topping 100 mph.
The storms knocked down trees and powerlines, leaving over 400,000 people without power. A state of emergency was declared in Kansas and Iowa after the storm system blew through.
There were 19 reports of tornadoes, including the first-ever December tornado in Minnesota. The high winds, coupled with the unusually warm and dry conditions, also sparked several wildfires that destroyed at least a dozen homes in Kansas. The National Weather Service issued its first-ever Extremely Critical Fire Weather Outlook in December.
The storms come less than a week after a storm system spawned over 50 tornadoes across the Midwest, killing over 80 people, including 75 in Kentucky.