Freakish wind storm brings ‘dust bowl’ conditions to tornado-devastated US states

The powerful weather system, driven by unseasonably high temperatures, closed highways, spawned tornadoes and caused outages

Less than a week after a swarm of powerful tornadoes devastated Kentucky and four other states, a freakish wind storm has brought Dust Bowl" conditions and gusts of more than 100 mph to parts of the Great Plains and upper midwest, meteorologists said on Wednesday.

The low pressure wind system, driven by unseasonably high temperatures, closed highways in western Kansas, spawned reported tornadoes in Nebraska and Iowa and raised concerns about fires because of the unusual heat.