nhk world. >>> now let's go back to sayaka mori for some other weather updates around the world. yaka? >> yes, miki. spring is actually severe weather season for many parts of the united states, because this is the time of year when we see cold wintry air coming in and warm air from the south, so these air masses are colliding into each other. and active weather is happening across the mississippi river valley on wednesday. we have numerous reports of hail in this area some of them are as large as ping pong balls. now, again, this is cold air from the north and warm air from the south. severe weather will likely happen in a similar locations on wednesday. watch out for tornadoes, thunderstorms, and large hail too. thunderstorms are happening over wide area over the southeastern corner of the united states. but across the west because of dry weather, and strong winds, the risk of wildfires is quite high across this location. dry weather for most parts of the west coast of the u.s. but getting quite wet over british columbia. you can see a flow moisture coming in from the pacific, a

. >>> it's time now for world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. sayaka we tokyo residents are enjoying calm spring weather. but people in northern japan are still dealing with snowstorm. what's the latest? >> yes, miki. spring started a couple of days ago in the northern hemisphere but still like winter up in the north. we're talking about winter storm conditions over hokkaido down towards the hokuriku region. this is a very big winter storm. and it's going to stay here for awhile. so an additional 40 centimeters of snow could fall in to tomorrow morning, and more snow afterwards, with gusts of nearly 110 kilometers per hour. the combination will cause very low visibility so traveling is extremely dangerous. and also waves are going to be up to six meters so coastal flooding is highly likely. but very different story over the southern half of the country. due to the recent warm-up. cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. we have some fixtures coming out of the tokyo area. cherry blossoms are starting to bloom in tokyo today. this is three days earli

. >>> it's time now for world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. sayaka, an intense spring storm is hammering parts of the united states with heavy rain and a threat of severe weather. give us the details. >> yes, miki. the severe weather season has just begun across the united states. we have several reports of tornadoes in arkansas and oklahoma on wednesday. i want to take you to oklahoma city to show you the damage. residents in the greater oklahoma city area are picking up the pieces after a tornado ripped through the area. multiple twisters hit oklahoma and arkansas carrykilling at least one person and injuring several others. the roofs of several homes were ripped off. damage was also reported in tulsa and northwest arkansas. >>> well the severe weathermaker has pushed away from these regions, so clear weather has returned. however, instead the eastern seaboard of the united states is seeing heavy rainfall and also a risk of thunderstorms. as you can see a line of front affecting the eastern seaboard. and rain will likely continue in to your f

. >>> it's time now for the world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. sayaka, sigh loan pam is posing a throat of severe flooding and structural damage. it's not the only storm in the pacific ocean, though. what's the latest? >> yes, keikichi a very rare event is taking place across the pacific ocean. we have four tropical systems, davi is located in northern hemisphere and three others in the southern hemisphere. pam is the strongest one among the four. and two others are located near northern australia. now i want to first talk about pam. take a look at the satellite imagery. you can see a symmetrical shape with very clear eye in the center. it indicates that it's very powerful system. and clouds are already envufling van u at u we're hearing reports of flooding as well as wind damage from these islands. this is a category 5 system. the strongest category packing winds of over 240 kilometers an hour. it is expected to maintain as a category 5 system and slide over vanuatu over the weekend, veer towards the southeast and pass north of new zealand by ear

. >>> it's time now for world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. sayaka people here in tokyo are popping up their umbrellas. are we going to need them again tomorrow? >> well miki the peak of heavy rain will be tonight. but as we go into tuesday, things will sunny and we won't need umbrellas anymore. but that's the case for tokyo. northern japan will face a very stormy day on tuesday. we're talking about flooding rains across the tohoku region and very strong winds, as much as 130 kilometers per hour likely, because these two lows will merge into one big system and eastern hokkaido, you'll see blowing snow condition even blizzard conditions could happen. addition of 50 centimeters of snow could fall. and this area has much more than average snowfall so far this winter. so additional snow will definitely rate the concern of -- concern about avalanches and also structural damage. this winter still exists in the north but spring has already come across western japan. you can see these flowers are already in full bloom. now temperatures in tokyo reached

. >>> it's time for world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. several tornados ripped through parts of the central united states. what's the latest >> the slow start to the tornado season in the united states but things are changing in fact, at least seven reports of tornados we had on wednesday. take a look at some video coming out of oklahoma to show you the damage done by a couple of tornados. electric flashes were visible from the air in moore, oklahoma as transformers exploded due to the powerful winds of a tornado ripping through the city. another tornado tore through sand springs near tulsa, damaging close to 60 buildings, so far one person has been killed and several others injured. there are three more reports of twisters in arkansas. now take a look at the satellite imagery. you can see clouds over oklahoma and arkansas. and if you take a close look at this, there are dots in clouds this means weather was very unstable. and usually we have 70 tornados or 80 tornados for the entire month of march in the united states, but up until tuesd

. >>> it's time now for the world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. sidents of northern japan are dealing with a late season winter storm. tell us the details, sayaka. >> yes, the strongest march snowstorm in years is hitting many parts of northern japan on march 11th. we have a very strong low pressure system in the north, and very cold air, as cold as midwinter, blanketing many parts of the country. it dumped as much as 50 centimeters of snowfall over the past 24 hours in fukushima and very strong winds blew over many areas of the country. now i want to take you to southern hokkaido to show you the situation. this is itashi southern part of hokkaido, 124 kilometer per hour winds were reported this morning. many flights have been canceled and numerous highways have been closed because of snow. and a vehicle overturned because of extremely strong winds. meanwhile, i want to show you some pictures coming out of fukushima, then. in fukushima at least 50 vehicles were stranded this morning. and here about 35 centimeters of snow fell over the course of jus

. >>> it's time now for world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. sigh aceh northern japan is like they're back in midwinter being battered by severe cold and heavy snow. what's the latest? >> yes miki. late march, but still winter is gripping northern japan. you can see rotating cloud in the north. that's driving colder air from the north, creating sea-effect snow mainly for the sea of japan side of the country. actually, 40 centimeters of snow has fallen in parts of the fukushima prefecture and gusts of about 100 kilometers per hour reported in the top end of hokkaido. the low pressure system is actually starting to pull away from japan so the peak is over but heavy snow and strong winds will likely continue at least into wednesday morning. an additional 60 centimeters of snow mainly for the hokuriku region but very stronger gusts and visibility will be very low and also thunderstorms could happen, as well as snow across northern parts of japan. the conditions will improve on wednesday so that's good news. and across the southern half of the count