'Unprecedented extreme weather' batters Midwest days after tornadoes cut path of devastation

The Midwest was battered by hurricane-force winds, dust storms, derechos, power outages, snow squalls, tornados, snownados and wild fires as a powerful storm battered Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Michigan.

"A powerful storm system swept through the central United States on Wednesday with high winds that kicked up dust storms, fueled wildfires and knocked down power lines, leaving more than 450,000 customers without power," The Washington Post reported. "More than 36 million people from New Mexico to Michigan were under high-wind warnings, as gusts of up to 100 mph sent roofs flying and toppled tractor-trailers on highways from Colorado to Iowa."

The storms came hours after President Joe Biden toured tornado damage in Kentucky after Friday evening's deadly storms in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee.

"High winds in Kansas kicked up dust storms that caused low visibility, prompting the Kansas Department of Transportation to temporarily shut down major highways in the western part of the state," the newspaper reported. "Dry, windy conditions also fueled wildfires in Kansas, forcing evacuations. The Weather Service said late Wednesday that a wildfire in Russell County, Kansas, was still burning. Parts of Kansas, Missouri and Colorado had the worst air quality in the country Wednesday evening, with Brownell, Kansas, recording a 'very unhealthy' air quality index of 237, far higher than levels earlier in the week."

The unprecedented damage was the result of a powerful winter storm colliding with a heat wave. CBS News meteorologist Jeff Beradelli explained how climate change is at least partially responsible.

"When temperatures are 40 degrees above normal, and near 70 as far north as the border of MN in December," Beradelli said, "and with a coincident storm… well, [you're] bound to get unprecedented extreme weather. It’s hard to justify these extremes w/o a changed climate."

Here are some of the images of the storm: