No single image could fully capture the confluence of extreme weather events that is disrupting the United States this week, buffeting the country from coast to coast with snowstorms, intense flooding, high winds and even tornadoes.
But one map comes close.
Each weekday morning at precisely 8:30, the Federal Emergency Management Agency releases what it calls its “hazards outlook” map, designed to show the threats expected in the coming days. The goal is to help emergency managers and other officials around the country prepare for what’s headed their way.
Lately, those maps have come to resemble abstract art, or just crayoning gone wild. On Monday, FEMA’s hazard map showed areas of heavy rain, freezing rain, heavy snow, heavy precipitation, hazardous cold, high winds and general severe weather. Seemingly just four of the 50 states were not facing some type of worrisome hazard.
By Thursday, the picture had somehow become even worse. In addition to heavy snow, heavy rain and high winds, a flood risk extended from the border between Maine and New Hampshire, all the way to Alabama.
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