The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned that a powerful storm is bringing the threat of a derecho, with high winds and tornadoes, to sections of the upper Midwest.
Damaging winds exceeding 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers per hour) were initially reported in portions of New Mexico and Colorado before traveling to the Great Plains.
Authorities closed sections of I-25 near Colorado Springs after extreme winds caused multiple semi-trailers to overturn on the highway. According to KRDO, the first two wrecks occurred around 11:00 a.m. local time.
While one blocked a section of the highway for approximately 35 minutes, the other incident occurred on the shoulder. The winds prompted El Paso County to suspend semis, tractor-trailers, buses, recreational and all other high-profile vehicles from its roads.
High winds were also reported in sections of Kansas, prompting dangerous dust storms that limited motorists' visibility.
Later in the day, tornadoes were confirmed near Salix, Iowa, and Emerson, Nebraska.
High winds can be seen in alleged eyewitness footage recorded near Oakland, Nebraska, where a tornado siren was activated earlier today.
Preliminary data provided by the NWS recorded some 18 tornadoes within the last several hours. In fact, Minnesota recorded its first tornado during the month of December after a twister touched down near Plainview and continued to move in a northeast direction at a speed of 70 miles per hour.