-- The US National Weather Service said on Thursday that large swathes of the center of the US were under a red flag weather warning.
The affected zones are large parts of New Mexico, northwest Texas, northwest Oklahoma, the eastern half of Colorado, the center and west of Nebraska and the east of South Dakota.
The risks included heavy snow in the northern Rockies and critical fire weather conditions for parts of the Plains, while in the central and southern plains to the Upper Midwest, there are increasing chances of severe weather also, the NWS said.
Affected areas in New Mexico and southwestern Texas are Carlsbad, Seminole, Roswell, Lubbock, Littlefield, Morton, Portales, Clovis, Dimmit, Childress, Clarendon, Amarillo, Santa Rosa, Tucumcari, Borger, Pampa, Hereford and Matador, Los Alamos, Moriarty, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Roy, Las Vegas, Orogrande, Las Cruces, Deming, Lordsburg, Silver City, Truth or Consequences, Alamogordo, Cloudcroft, Antelope Wells, Taos, Raton, Roy, Clayton, Liberal, Beaver, Perryton and Borger.
Power providers in New Mexico are Xcel Energy (XEL), PNM Resources (PNM) and El Paso Electric. In Texas, main power providers are AEP (AEP) unit AEP Texas, CenterPoint Energy (CNP), Entergy's (ETR) Texas unit, Oncor, Swepco and TXNM (TXNM) unit TNMP.
Affected areas in eastern Colorado are Eads, Ordway, Pueblo, Canon City, Saguache, Gunnison, Buena Vista, Colorado Springs, Fairplay, Castle Rock, Limon, Deer Trail, George Town, Denver, Boulder, Akron, Fort Morgan, Greeley, Fort Collins, Sterling and Julesberg.
The power provider in eastern Colorado is Exelon (EXC) subsidiary Pepco.
Affected areas in western Kansas are Cheyenne Wells, Flagler, Goodland, St. Francis, Oberlin, McCook, Wray, Akron, Imperial. In Nebraska, affected areas are Pine Ridge, Chadron, Rushville, Alliance, Hyannis, Valentine, Mullen, Springview, Ainsworth, Butte, O'Neill, Brewster, Burwell, Thedford, Oshkosh, Arthur, Tryon, Stapleton, Broken Bow, Chappell, Ogallala, North Platte, Kearney, Holdrege, Stockville, Grant and Arthur.
The power providers in western Kansas are Evergy (EVRG) and Liberty (LBRT). In Nebraska, the power provider is MidAmerican Energy.
Affected areas in South Dakota are Marshall, Brookings, Huron, Pipestone, Mitchell, Chamberlain, Sioux Falls, Lake Andes, Yankton. In the east of North Dakota and west of Minnesota, affected areas are Grafton, Grand Forks, Roseau, Thief River Falls, Fargo, Detroit Lakes, Jamestown, Lisbon, Fergus Falls, Ashley and Sisseton.
In South Dakota, the power provider is NorthWestern Energy (NWE). In North Dakota the power providers are Otter Tail Power and Montana Dakota Utilities.
In Minnesota, the power providers are Allete (ALE) utility Minnesota Power, and Superior Light, Water and Power.
The NWS placed parts of Utah under a freeze warning. Affected areas are Duchesne, Defta, Nilford, Cedar City, Price and Brigham City.
The power provider in Utah is PacifiCorp unit Rocky Mountain Power.
In Michigan there were flood warnings covering Manistee and Petroskey.
There were winter weather warnings in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Affected towns are West Glacier, Essex, Seeley Lake, Missoula, Lowell, Grangeville, Riggins, Leadore, Salmon, Shoup, Sula, Hamilton, Dillon, Bozeman, Helena, Great Falls, Anaconda and Butte.
Power providers in the states are Idaho Power (IDA), Avista Utilities (AVA) and Northwestern Energy.