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US

Southeast braces for days-long severe storm system

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A potent low pressure system sweeping across the Intermountain West Sunday will become the catalyst for a multiday severe weather outbreak this week across the Southern Plains and Gulf Coast region.

Beginning Monday, more than 20 million people along the Gulf Coast could be affected by damaging winds, very large hail, and tornadoes.

A Level 3 out of 5 “enhanced” risk for severe storms has been issued across portions of Texas and Louisiana by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), and includes Houston, Austin and Waco, Texas.

A Level 2 “slight” risk surrounds the enhanced risk and includes San Antonio and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Track the severe storms here.
For the Ark-La-Tex region, the threat of tornadoes increases going into the evening hours. Tornadoes occurring at night are more than twice as likely to be deadly as those during the day.

When tornadoes occur during the day, people are awake, alert, and make a conscious effort to seek out weather alerts. At night, it is a different story. It is imperative to be sure you have a weather radio, weather app on your phone or any other alerting system to wake you up if you live in an area expecting severe storms overnight.

By Tuesday the threat for severe weather increases as it shifts further east. The potential for strong tornadoes, hail, and damaging straight line winds exist from Lafayette, Louisiana, east into Huntsville, Alabama.

A Level 4 out of 5 “moderate” risk for severe storms has been issued across portions of Louisiana and Mississippi by the SPC, and includes Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Jackson, Mississippi.

A Level 3 “enhanced” risk surrounds the moderate risk and includes New Orleans.

Nighttime tornadoes will also be a concern Tuesday evening as well for areas of Alabama, southern Mississippi and the western panhandle of Florida.

Wednesday, the focus becomes an area between Mobile, Alabama and Columbia, South Carolina.

Warm, moist air will surge in from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the advancing cold front, increasing the potential for flooding as well.

“Rainfall totals greater than 2 inches are possible and could create rapid runoff and flooding issues.” the Weather Prediction Center said.

While most areas of the Southeast will pick up between 1-3 inches of rain, isolated spots could see as much as 4 inches through Wednesday.

Texas could use the rain

Texas has been ravaged by fires during the past week along with worsening drought conditions in recent months. More than 90% of the state is now in drought, according to the US Drought Monitor update released Thursday morning.

But before the much-needed rain arrives Monday, low humidities and gusty winds ahead of the cold front will bring an increased fire threat.

Elevated and critical fire weather outlooks have been issued for parts of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota for Sunday.

Widespread sustained winds of 20-25 mph are expected across the region, with gusts as high as 45-50 mph. Minimum relative humidities will drop to 10-15 percent by Sunday afternoon.

While rain is set to arrive Monday, it cannot come soon enough. Most of the panhandle of Texas has not seen significant rainfall for much of the winter, largely preventing the normal March “green-up” and leaving areas with a large, dry fuel load, simply meaning the drier plants are more likely to burn.

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US

Texas authorities warn of more dangerous fire weather coming as a wildfire victim’s family reflects on her life of service

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“You’re thinking it’s going to be like every other night,” Jonathon Fenley, 28, told CNN. “We were just out looking for her when we got that phone call.”

He spoke to his mother, Deputy Sgt. Barbara Fenley, Thursday night as she helped evacuate people in the town of Carbon, about 100 miles west of Fort Worth. She was last heard from while on her way to assist an elderly person, the Eastland County Sheriff’s Office said.

Amid deteriorating conditions and low visibility from smoke, Fenley ran off the roadway and was killed in the flames, the sheriff’s office said.

Gov. Greg Abbott, who on Friday issued a disaster declaration for 11 counties, including Eastland, ordered flags at half-staff in Fenley’s honor. “We will never forget her sacrifice,” the governor said.

Fenley loved her job, she loved her family and was always helping others — even when that meant putting other people’s needs above her own, her son said. “If someone else was having a bad day, she always tried to cheer them up, even if she was having a worse day,” he said.

The Eastland Complex, a combination of four blazes that began Wednesday and Thursday, had scorched through more than 45,380 acres by Saturday morning, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. The complex was roughly 15% contained at the time, the service said.

At least 50 homes have been lost in the flames, authorities said.

Authorities warned Sunday will be “another dangerous fire weather day,” with a fire weather watch set to begin Sunday morning and continue through the evening hours, according to a Saturday update on the national Inciweb wildfire information system.

“Relative humidity values will drop to the low to mid teens once again, but much warmer and windier conditions are expected to develop compared to today,” the update said. “Rapid fire spread will once again be possible Sunday afternoon/evening.”

Eastland County Judge Rex Fields described the area between Carbon and Gorman as looking “like some kind of lunar landscape,” with no vegetation, during a Friday news conference. “It’s just an amazing amount of devastation,” the judge added.

The Red Cross said Saturday it was responding to the fire in Eastland County with resources for those in need.

In the small town of Ranger, about 10 miles northeast of Eastland, a church and several downtown buildings burned Thursday, CNN affiliate KTVT reported.

“I’ve been fire chief here 40 years and when you have something like this … it hurts. It hurts the whole community,” Ranger Fire Department Chief Darrell Fox said. “This church had been here for 100 years.”

The massive complex is not the only blaze that’s been scorching parts of Texas. The forest service said it worked on 13 wildfires across more than 71,000 acres on Friday.

The Crews Gap Fire, in Runnels County, was also still burning Saturday and was 80% contained by noon, the forest service said.

CNN’s David Williams contributed to this report.



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World

Idaho man killed in Ukraine was in the country caring for his partner, sister says

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Idaho resident Jimmy Hill spent the last few weeks of his life in Ukraine doing what his sister, Katya Hill, said he did best: being a peacemaker and working to bring people together. The 68-year-old was killed by a Russian bomb just days ago, and his sister shared his story with reporters on Saturday. (Hill family photo)

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY — Idaho resident Jimmy Hill spent the last few weeks of his life in Ukraine doing what his sister says he did best: being a peacemaker and working to bring people together.

“He went out to stand in store and bread lines with Ukrainians. He brought back cookies and chocolate for the nurses. He found a woman with four young children living near the hospital to share food, use her internet when it was working, and (was) trying to find a way out of Chernihiv for her and others,” Katya Hill said of her 68-year-old brother.

She said he was out trying to find buses to help friends leave the country when a Russian bomb was dropped nearby, killing him.

“My brother Jimmy was a victim of the tragedy happening in Ukraine,” Katya Hill said in a Zoom call with reporters on Saturday morning.

Although her brother’s death has been confirmed by the United States Department of State, Katya Hill said her family is still waiting to hear more details from the government, including what happened to her brother’s body and where it is located.

Jimmy Hill was in Ukraine while his life partner, Irina Teslenko, who was receiving treatments for multiple sclerosis. Katya Hill said she talked to her brother about postponing the treatments for Teslenko and leaving the country before the war started but he didn’t believe war would actually come to Ukraine and choose to stay by his partner’s side while she received the treatments.

“He felt confident that the invasion would not happen, that the world wouldn’t let it, and he had fought so hard for this treatment. He didn’t want to delay,” Katya Hill said. “Then the bombing started.”

Jimmy Hill sits by partner Irina Teslenko’s beside in a hospital in Chernihiv, Ukraine, in March 2022. Jimmy Hill, of Idaho, spent the last few weeks of his life in Ukraine doing what his sister, Katya Hill, said he did best: being a peacemaker and working to bring people together. The 68-year-old was killed by a Russian bomb just days ago, and his sister shared his story with reporters on Saturday. (Photo: Family photo)

For the first few weeks of the war, Katya Hill said that her brother reported crimes against civilians to her. She said he was a forensic psychologist and teacher at multiple universities in Europe, including one in Kyiv, Ukraine, so he collected and shared evidence of these crimes.

He remained positive during more than 20 days of bombing, the loss of utilities and limits on food, Katya Hill said, and he was able to communicate frequently with his family in the U.S. because of his access to the hospital internet.

Katya Hill said she would hear bombs going off in the background while she spoke with her brother over the phone. Jimmy Hill told her that the bombs were being used specifically to kill civilians, she said, and that bombing would stop for a few hours, just long enough for people to go out to try and get supplies, and then bombs would be dropped on people waiting in lines.

I can’t explain what the connection is between two human beings that fall in love and have that strong bond for one another that they will go through everything. … It’s a beautiful love story but, unfortunately, it has a tragic end.

–Katya Hill, Jimmy Hill’s sister

After the war began, Katya Hill said her brother talked about housing Ukrainians in his Airbnb properties in Idaho and Montana and building a “little Ukraine” with his friends. He had gone with his friend Katrina to find information about buses that were taking people out of the country through a safe corridor on the day he died.

In a chat with Jimmy Hill’s family and others involved in Teslenko’s care, Katrina said Jimmy Hill saw over 1,000 people waiting for buses and had decided to go back to Teslenko at the hospital when the bomb hit. She also shared that she lost hearing in one of her ears in the blast that killed her friend.

Katya Hill said her brother met Teslenko while teaching forensic psychology at universities in Europe, and the two had a strong bond with each other. He wanted to do everything he could to stop the progression of Teslenko’s disease.

Teslenko is still in the hospital, and friends are trying to find a way to help her travel out of the area safely, Katya Hill said. Katrina told Teslenko’s mother that Jimmy Hill was killed but, at that point, they did not want to tell Teslenko. Katya Hill said that she assumes that, by this point, Teslenko has learned what happened.

“I can’t explain what the connection is between two human beings that fall in love and have that strong bond for one another that they will go through everything,” Katya Hill said, “and certainly, my brother sacrificed his life for her. … It’s a beautiful love story but, unfortunately, it has a tragic end.”

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Health

Excessive napping could be a sign of dementia, study finds

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Frequent napping or regularly napping for extended periods during the day may be a sign of early dementia in older adults, a new study revealed. (Lev Dolgachov/Syda Productions, Adobe)

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

ATLANTA — Frequent napping or regularly napping for extended periods during the day may be a sign of early dementia in older adults, a new study revealed.

Elderly adults who napped at least once a day or more than an hour a day were 40% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those who did not nap daily or napped less than an hour a day, according to the study published Thursday in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

“We found the association between excessive daytime napping and dementia remained after adjusting for nighttime quantity and quality of sleep,” said co-senior author Dr. Yue Leng, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, in a statement.

The results echo the findings of a previous study by Leng that found napping two hours a day raised the risk of cognitive impairment compared with napping less than 30 minutes a day.

The new study used data gathered over 14 years by the Rush Memory and Aging Project, which followed over 1,400 people between the ages of 74 and 88, with an average age of 81.

“I think the public isn’t aware that Alzheimer’s is a brain disease that oftentimes causes changes in mood and sleep behavior,” said Dr. Richard Isaacson, director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic in the Center for Brain Health at Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine.

“Excessive napping may be one of the many clues that a person could be on the road to cognitive decline, and trigger an in-person evaluation with a treating physician,” said Isaacson, who was not involved in the study.

Increased need for naps

Sleep quality and quantity does decline with age, often due to pain or complications from chronic conditions such as more frequent bathroom breaks. Thus, elderly people do tend to take naps more often than they did when they were younger.

But daytime napping can also be a signal of brain changes that are “independent of nighttime sleep,” Leng said. She referenced prior research that suggests the development of tau tangles, a hallmark sign of Alzheimer’s, may be affecting wake-promoting neurons in key areas of the brain, thus disrupting sleep.

For 14 days each year, participants in the current study wore a tracker that captured data on their movements; No movement for an extended period between the hours of 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. was interpreted as a nap.

While it’s possible that people could have been reading or watching TV, “we have developed a unique algorithm to define naps and to differentiate naps from no activity. We didn’t define a specific length for ‘extended nap’ but we were more focused on the accumulated nap minutes per day and the change in the length of naps over the years,” Leng told CNN via email.

I don’t think we have enough evidence to draw conclusions about a causal relationship, that it’s the napping itself that caused cognitive aging. But excessive daytime napping might be a signal of accelerated aging or cognitive aging process

–Dr. Yue Leng, UCSF

“Further studies are warranted with devices that are validated to detect sleep versus sedentary behavior,” Isaacson said. “But at the same time, being sedentary and not moving for long periods of time Is a known risk factor for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s.

“Regardless of the reason, falling asleep during the day or excessive napping raises my antenna to focus on whether the person may be at higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease or cognitive decline,” he said.

Over the 14 years, the study found daily daytime napping increased by an average 11 minutes per year for adults who did not develop cognitive impairment. However, a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment doubled nap time to a total of 24 minutes a day. People who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s nearly tripled their nap time, to an average of 68 minutes a day.

The “drastic increase” in napping length and frequency over the years seems to be a particularly important signal, Leng said.

“I don’t think we have enough evidence to draw conclusions about a causal relationship, that it’s the napping itself that caused cognitive aging, but excessive daytime napping might be a signal of accelerated aging or cognitive aging process,” she said.

What to do?

Preferably, adults should limit any daytime naps to 15 to 20 minutes before 3 p.m. to achieve the most restorative benefits from napping and keep from harming nighttime sleep, Leng said.

In addition, older adults and caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease should pay increased attention to daytime napping behaviors, and be alert to signs of excessive or increased numbers of naps, she said.

Any significant increase in napping behavior should be discussed with a doctor, Isaacson said.

“I think it’s never too late for someone to be able to make a brain-healthy lifestyle change or pay more attention to their brain health,” Isaacson said. “Making sleep a priority, paying attention to sleep quality and talking to your doctor about sleep: These are all critical things.”

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US

Powerful storms Friday could bring damaging winds and hail to Southeast

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Nearly 45 million people are at risk of severe weather Friday as thunderstorms move east. This risk spans from the central Gulf Coast, northward to the Ohio Valley and eastward to the Carolina coast.

Severe storms are ongoing Friday morning over southern Mississippi into Alabama, where a tornado watch is in effect until 10 a.m. local time. The primary threats in the watch are the possibility of a couple of intense tornadoes and scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph.

The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has issued an enhanced risk (level 3 of 5) for severe storms over southeastern Mississippi and much of southern Alabama, where the potential for strong tornadoes (EF-2 or greater), damaging winds and hail exists into the afternoon.

The SPC noted the forecast is “suggesting conditions will be ideal for tornadoes” in this area and that if a storm lined up just right, “then a long-track, strong tornado will be possible.”

“Very large hail” possible

The storms are expected to continue eastward Friday, with areas from Columbus, Ohio, down to Wilmington, North Carolina, and south toward the Florida Panhandle and the Gulf Coast states affected.

The potential for strong thunderstorms may also impact the Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky, areas, where damaging winds and large hail are possible.

“Large hail and wind damage may also occur further north across the Ohio and Tennessee Valley, some of which could have very large hail,” the SPC said. The area from far southeast Missouri northeastward across western Kentucky and into far southern Indiana has the greatest potential for hailstones of greater than 2 inches in diameter.

“Some thunderstorms may also contain excessive rainfall rates, prompting the issuance of a marginal risk (level 1 of 4) for flash flooding in Alabama and western Georgia,” the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) said.

By Friday evening, rain will begin over much of the East Coast and continue through Saturday, the WPC said.

“A broad area of 0.5 – 1” of rain, with locally higher amounts in thunderstorms, is expected throughout much of the eastern US through Saturday before conditions begin to improve from west to east during the evening hours, the center said.

Additional severe storms are expected along much of the Atlantic Coast Saturday.

CNN’s Pedram Javaheri and Mike Saenz contributed to this report.

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Health

Something other than COVID-19 could be making you sick these days

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While COVID-19 cases have dropped in Utah this month, other respiratory illnesses are now making people sick. (Subbotina Anna, Shutterstock)

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY – While COVID-19 cases have dropped in Utah this month, other respiratory illnesses are now making people sick. That could cause confusion for some people because doctors with Intermountain Healthcare expected the sniffing and sneezing to continue for a few weeks.

A year ago, COVID-19 dominated respiratory illness in our communities, and the health precautions most people took helped them avoid other illnesses, but the flu and the head colds are back.

“A lot of people are talking about colds going around work, or things getting shared around families,” said Dr. Per Gesteland, a pediatric hospitalist at University of Utah Health and Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital.

That’s what they’re seeing at the hospital, too, he said. Plus, COVID-19 is not gone yet.

“We’re still seeing, obviously, a steady trickle of that because it’s still in our neighborhoods, and it’s still in our communities,” he said.

If you think you have COVID-19, Gesteland said get tested, especially if you are at high risk. Meantime, other respiratory viruses are moving in.

“Kind of a late respiratory season rally and starting to make people sick again,” he added.

Seasonal influenza is rising again after previously peaking around the new year. That information is easily found on GermWatch by Intermountain Healthcare which provides the latest surveillance of illnesses going around in Utah.

Gesteland helped create GermWatch 20 years ago.

“We’re watching that (influenza) pretty closely because it’s still marching up and doesn’t seem to have peaked just yet,” Gesteland said. “Influenza, as you know, can look a little bit, or a lot like COVID with a fairly rapid onset of congestion, fever, sore throat, cough, muscle aches, and can make you feel pretty miserable.”

The flu is not showing any signs of waning, yet.

“I don’t know how much higher it’s going to go. But, I know it’s going to last for several weeks because we’re not over the hump of that second peak.”

Metapneumovirus, which shows up with mild cold-like symptoms is also circulating on the Wasatch Front. That virus can cause cough, stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, and fever. Some infections cause vomiting, diarrhea, and breathing problems. Symptoms develop three to five days after exposure.

Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which can be especially dangerous for babies, surged around Thanksgiving.

“It looks like it’s peaked and may be coming down. But I think we’re expecting a steady drumbeat of various respiratory viruses for the next several weeks,” the doctor said.

He said it’s not too late to get a flu shot. With several viruses around, he said, it’s a good idea to wash our hands regularly and stay home when we’re sick.

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Science

Small asteroid strikes Earth’s atmosphere mere hours after its discovery

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Image captured of fireball that burst over Utah in 2009. On Friday March 11, a similar asteroid burst over the Arctic Ocean. Astronomers discovered and tracked this asteroid only hours before impact. (ksl.com)

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY — An asteroid smaller than a GPS satellite but traveling at twice the speed impacted Earth’s atmosphere above the Arctic Ocean on Friday after being discovered only hours earlier.

The harmless collision marks only the fifth time in history astronomers have spotted an object before it collided with Earth.

The asteroid, which measured 10 to 13 feet in diameter (or as the Daily Mail called it, “half the size of a giraffe”), is now officially designated as minor planet 2022 EB5 and was first discovered by the Hungarian astronomer K. Sarneczky, who detected the small speck flitting through his telescope.

A couple of hours later — sometime in the afternoon according to Mountain Standard Time — the object exploded upon entry into the atmosphere north of Iceland in a 2-kiloton explosion. By then, other astronomers had spread the word, observing the rock and precisely tracking its final destination.

While small asteroids hitting Earth are not uncommon, spotting and tracking an object before impact is uncommon.

“This happens all of the time.” Patrick Wiggins, NASA/JPL solar system ambassador to Utah, said of the asteroid’s impact. “The thing that makes this different is that we saw it coming.”

Wiggins said impacts of this magnitude happen at least several times a month, yet most occur unseen over the ocean.

Were it not for the vigilance of a handful of astronomers and scientists, Friday’s collision would have been missed. Italian astronomer Ernesto Guido laid out the timeline of the minor planet, from discovery to disintegration, in a blog post on Saturday.

Sarneczky, who according to Wikipedia has discovered dozens of similar objects, spotted the asteroid in a 0.6-meter telescope on a mountaintop in Hungary. He then placed the object on the Near Earth-Object Confirmation Page for other observers to confirm his sighting. Astronomer Bill Gray then calculated the object’s trajectory, predicting an impact somewhere southwest of the Norwegian island Jan Mayen.

But Gray also discovered there was no time to waste. He shot off a message to fellow minor-planet observers, alerting them of the imminent impact and imploring someone in Europe to get a sighting.

“I strongly urge European observers to take a look for this object,” he said. “(The impact is) about forty minutes from ‘right now.'”

Shortly after, Gray replied to his own message, with more observation data from Slovakia and an “obligatory disclaimer” belying any fears of a catastrophe.

“This thing is maybe a meter or two across … mostly harmless,” he said in the message thread entitled “Sar2953 = small impactor.”

After impact, reports came in on the message thread of reported observations in Iceland, as well as China. Participants in the thread started crunching the numbers, trying to discern the details of the collision. One participant pointed out tracking the object was similar to tracking GPS satellites, which move about half as fast.

A low-frequency observation taken in Greenland at impact time revealed not only the size of the explosion left by the object but also its size, Guido wrote in his post.

“From this data yield is approximately 2-3 kT TNT. At 15 km/s, this is roughly 3-4 m diameter,” came the report from Greenland.

Wiggins said this is surely not as large an impact as the Tunguska impact in Siberia, or even the more recent Chelyabinsk impact in 2013, also over Russian skies. Yet, the sighting still taught us lessons.

“It is a great example of why we need more than two hours notice, if we want to do anything about it,” said Wiggins.

Contrary to some social media posts, the ambassador said, we did not “dodge a bullet.” But in the event a larger object was on a collision course with our planet, he said we would want “months if not years” to prepare.

Still, Wiggins described Earth’s exposure to minor planets such as a “cosmic shooting gallery.” 2022 EB5 is considered an Apollo asteroid, which is a class of asteroids whose orbits cross Earth’s orbit.

No meteorite fragments have been reportedly discovered after 2022 EB5’s impact. It is rare for even predicted meteorites to be found, said Wiggins. The first recorded impact yielded small fragments of meteorite.

Utah has also been targeted by small asteroids. Some Utahns may remember the night sky lighting up in 2009 when a meteorite fell in the West Desert. Wiggins recalled sitting in his living room when the fireball burst in the sky. Though that event was unexpected, the sonic boom heard in Utah made it possible to track, Wiggins said. This meteorite was also the focus of an episode of the show “Meteorite Men” in 2010.

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Health

Sleeping with even a small amount of light may harm your health, study says

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A new study shows sleeping with a dim light raised the blood sugar and heart rate of healthy young people. (l i g h t p o e t, Shutterstock)

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

ATLANTA — Sleeping for only one night with a dim light, such as a TV set with the sound off, raised the blood sugar and heart rate of healthy young people participating in a sleep lab experiment, a new study found.

The dim light entered the eyelids and disrupted sleep despite the fact that participants slept with their eyes closed, said study author Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Heart rate typically drops at night, slowing down as the the brain is busy repairing and rejuvenating the body. An elevated heart rate at night has been shown in numerous studies to be a risk factor for future heart disease and early death.

High blood sugar levels are a sign of insulin resistance, where the body stops using glucose properly and the pancreas goes into overdrive, flooding the body with extra insulin to overcompensate until it eventually loses its ability to do so. Over time, insulin resistance can ultimately lead to Type 2 diabetes.

Sleeping with eyes closed

Prior research has shown an association between artificial light at night and weight gain and obesity, disruptions in metabolic function, insulin secretion and the development of diabetes, and cardiovascular risk factors.

“Why would sleeping with your lights on affect your metabolism? Could that explain why there is a higher prevalence of diabetes or obesity (in society)?” Zee asked.

Zee and her team took 20 healthy people in their 20s and had them spend two nights in a sleep lab. The first night was spent in a darkened room where “you wouldn’t be able to see much, if anything, when your eyes were open,” Zee said.

All of the study participants were connected to devices monitoring a number of objective measures of sleep quality. So data could be gathered with minimal interference, they slept with an IV with long tubes that snake across the room and through a hole to the researcher’s side of the lab. The blood was drawn without ever touching the slumbering participants.

“We recorded the brainwaves and could tell what sleep stage the person was in,” Zee said. “We recorded their breathing, their heart rate, their EKG, and we also drew blood from them to measure melatonin levels while they were sleeping.” Melatonin is a hormone that regulates the body’s circadian rhythm, or sleep and wake body clock.

A randomized portion of the group repeated that same light level for a second night in the lab, while another group slept with a dim overhead light with a glow roughly equivalent to “a very, very dark, cloudy day or street lights coming in through a window,” Zee said.

“Now these people were asleep with their eyelids closed,” she explained. “In the literature the estimation is that about 5% to 10% of the light in the environment would actually get through the closed lid to the eye, so this is really not a lot of light.”

Yet even that tiny amount of light created a deficit of slow wave and rapid eye movement sleep, the stages of slumber in which most cellular renewal occurs, Zee said.

In addition, heart rate was higher, insulin resistance rose, and the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and relax) nervous systems were unbalanced, which has been linked to higher blood pressure in healthy people.

The light was not bright enough, however, to lower levels of melatonin in the body, Zee added. The study was published Monday in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

What to do?

What advice would Zee give people based on her study and existing research in the field? Close your blinds and curtains, turn off all the lights, and consider using a sleep mask.

“I think the strength of the evidence is that you should clearly pay attention to the light in your bedroom,” she said. “Make sure that you start dimming your lights at least an hour or two before you go to bed to prepare your environment for sleep.”

You should clearly pay attention to the light in your bedroom. Make sure that you start dimming your lights at least an hour or two before you go to bed to prepare your environment for sleep.

–Dr. Phyllis Zee, study author

Check your bedroom for sources of light that are not necessary, she added. If a night light is needed, keep it dim and at floor level, “so that it’s more reflected rather than right next to your eye or bed level,” she suggested.

Also be aware of the type of light you have in your bedroom, she added, and ban any lights in the blue spectrum, such as those emitted by electronic devices like televisions, smartphones, tablets and laptops.

“Blue light is the most stimulating type of light,” Zee said. “If you have to have a light on for safety reasons change the color. You want to choose lights that have more reddish or brownish tones.”

LED lights can be purchased in any color, including red and brownish tones.

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US

Winter storm: Cold blast brings heavy snow to the Northeast and deep freeze to the South

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Roughly 42 million Americans across the eastern US are under some kind of winter weather alert.

About 4 to 8 inches of snow are forecast from the southern Appalachians to New England Saturday into early Sunday. However, areas of high elevation in the interior Northeast could see up to a foot of snow.

Eight inches or more already had fallen by late Saturday morning in parts of eastern Kentucky, southeastern Ohio, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and upstate New York.

Especially intense snowfall — 1-2 inches per hour — are possible into early afternoon in parts of eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, eastern New York state, and western New England.

“New Yorkers should do their best to stay off the roads during this time,” New York Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray said Friday ahead of the storm.

In Pennsylvania’s Cumberland County, where there’s continuing snowfall, strong wind gusts and low visibility, at least 73 vehicles were involved in a crash and multiple people were injured by Saturday afternoon, State Trooper Megan Ammerman said on Twitter. “AVOID THE AREA,” Ammerman wrote.

Lines of thunderstorms hit elsewhere in the East Saturday, including Florida and the Carolinas. And the whole system has been accompanied and followed by strong, potentially damaging winds.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in Clay, Highlands, Marion, and Putnam counties saying a cold front had brought “multiple severe weather hazards” across the northeastern and central part of the state, including heavy rain, thunderstorms, strong winds and isolated tornadoes resulting in damages and widespread power outages. The heavy rain also caused flash flooding of some bodies of water across northeast Florida, the governor said.
Winds already have interrupted electric service. By 9 p.m. ET Saturday, more than 85,000 homes and businesses were without power from the South to the Northeast — with the majority in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, according to PowerOutage.us.
A few thunderstorms capable of damaging winds and an isolated tornado were possible Saturday afternoon over central Florida, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
The National Weather Service confirmed a waterspout came ashore on Fort Myers Beach on Saturday, resulting in a weak tornado. “People were panicking,” said Melissa Moore, who captured a video of the tornado, and people running on the beach as the winds picked up.

The weather service also confirmed an EF-1 tornado with maximum winds of 100 mph touched down in Ocala.

Ocala resident Hannah Laviolette posted a video on Twitter of tornado damage in her neighborhood Saturday afternoon. “My bed is next to my window and it started violently shaking so much so that I thought it was about to come flying off,” Laviolette said. She saw a funnel outside her window for a brief moment and when she later went outside, a neighbor said their bedroom had been “ripped open.”
Travel disruptions affected drivers and airline passengers alike. More than 1,300 flights within, into or out of the US had been canceled as of Saturday evening, according to the tracking website FlightAware.

Metropolitan areas along the coast, including Washington, DC, Philadelphia, New York and Boston are expected to collect rain and then some snow and sleet Saturday, though they will avoid the worst accumulations. Philadelphia may receive 2 to 4 inches of snow and sleet, with the other cities accumulating less, forecasters said.

Deep freeze coming to the South

A lobe of frigid air will sag deeply into the US following Saturday’s snow and rain, bringing freezing temperatures as far south as Florida.

March started out quite mild in the Eastern US and even downright warm in the Southeast. Many locations set record highs in the 70s and 80s as recently as last Sunday and Monday. The warmth has prompted many trees, flowers and crops to begin blooming already.

But Saturday’s storm system will bring plummeting temperatures and frigid air from Canada all the way down to the Gulf Coast. Locations from Louisiana to South Carolina and southward into Florida are expecting a deep freeze Saturday night into Sunday morning. Many of these locations will experience a hard freeze, with several hours below 28 degrees.

Low temperatures in the low to mid-20s and below freezing for a significant duration in much of the Deep South will threaten vulnerable vegetation already blooming there.

“Freeze conditions will kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing,” the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama, said.

More than 25 million people in the South are under freeze warnings Saturday night into Sunday. Cities under the watch include New Orleans; Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta; and Tallahassee and Jacksonville in Florida.

Temperatures will be in the teens for the Tennessee Valley into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, but freeze warnings are not issued for these locations because the growing season has not begun.

CNN’s Haley Brink, Melissa Alonso, Aya Elamroussi and Derek Van Dam contributed to this report.



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Sports

Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson weather wind to post bogey-free rounds at Players Championship

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — In what already was the toughest pre-cut round at the Players Championship in 15 years, Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson managed to play bogey-free Saturday in ferocious wind on a day of far more spills than thrills.

The rain finally cleared out and TPC Sawgrass got even more terrifying with gusts that approached 40 mph on a Stadium Course that can be punishing even in calm conditions.

Where that leaves Thomas (69) and Watson (68) won’t be determined until Sunday when the second round is completed. The rain-plagued tournament is so far behind that 27 players have yet to start the second round.

Thomas and Watson shared the clubhouse lead at 3-under 141. They left in a tie for 15th, and six of the players ahead of them had not finished a single hole.

Kevin Kisner reached 6 under in his second round until missing a short par putt on No. 4 and going from rough to water for a double bogey on the next hole. He shot 74 and was at 2-under 142. Dustin Johnson birdied his final hole for a 73 and was at 142, with two double bogeys on the par 5s over 36 holes.

The course was so saturated by rain that it took 54 hours, 16 minutes from Adam Schenk hitting the opening tee shot Thursday morning to Brendan Steele holing out early Saturday afternoon to complete the first round.

Tom Hoge goes into Sunday with his name atop the leaderboard. He still has played only 18 holes. He opened with a 6-under 66 on Thursday and was tied with Tommy Fleetwood, who was even par through three holes when play was suspended.

Those who spent more than six hours on the course Saturday held on for dear life, especially when they came to the notorious island green on the par-3 17th.

Over two days, only four players hit into the water. On Saturday when play resumed, the first four players couldn’t find the green. Scottie Scheffler had the wind die and went long into the water. Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka caught a gust and came up short, as did Collin Morikawa in the group behind them.

By the end of the day, 29 balls had gone into the water.

The average score for the second round when play was suspended was 75.37, and it was certain to go higher Sunday morning. The average was 75.41 for the opening round in 2007, the first year the Players was in May. The highest ever for the opening two rounds was 76.19 in 2000 when it was in March.

Scoring tends to get lower after the cut. The highest average score for any round was 76.51 in the third round of 2005.

“Insane,” Thomas said to describe the challenge.

Keegan Bradley (71) spoke of hitting a 9-iron from 96 yards on the 12th hole dead into the wind, and the same club from 206 yards with the wind at his back on the par-5 16th.

The forecast was for temperatures in the upper 30s when play was to resume Sunday morning and wind not quite as fierce but no less challenging.

Thomas thought he was going to end up on the good end of the draw when they started out Friday in soft, still conditions in the rain. Returning to 30 mph wind Saturday morning to finish the round and then facing 18 holes of that in the afternoon? Not so much.

“There’s always one person who plays good on the bad side of the draw,” Thomas said. “I kept saying, ‘Be that guy.’ I’m very proud of myself today.”

So many others went the wrong direction.

Schauffele was 4 under for his opening round, 2 shots out of the lead, when he hit into the water on the 17th and did well to salvage a bogey.

But on the 18th hole — playing so long into the wind that some players needed fairway metal to reach the par-4 in two shots — Schauffele drew such a bad lie in the rough that he advanced it only about 15 yards. From there, he hit into the water. After a drop, his pitch had so much spin into the wind that it rolled back some 75 feet back into the fairway.

He finished bogey-quadruple bogey for a 73, and then shot 78 in the second round.

Koepka was 3 under when he returned and was just left of the par-5 16th in two. It took him four shots to get down. He put his tee shot in the water on the 17th for double bogey and shot 72. He followed that with an 81, matching his highest score on the PGA Tour.

Asked to describe the 17th, Koepka said, “It’s luck.”

He hit an 8-iron from 205 yards on the 16th hole in the morning. He estimates his 8-iron on the 17th going the other direction went 105 yards in the air, and then some 20 feet to the bottom of the pond.

Tour officials tried to prepare with easier pins for the second round, slightly raising the cut of the greens the last two days, not rolling them since Friday.

“It’s brutal, man,” Kisner said. “It’s pure luck and somewhat loss of integrity of the tournament in my opinion. We’ve got 36 more holes to figure out who’s playing the best.”

The second round was to resume at 8:15 a.m. That will be followed by the third round, which would not end until Monday morning. The tournament still was likely to finish Monday evening.

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