The year 2023 ended and 2024 was ushered in with Winter Storm Donovan which drastically impacted seven million people across several states, including Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Colorado.
The storm brought snow and ice, and at Final Call presstime, rain and possible flooding were forecasted for the Northeast part of the United States as Donovan made its way across the country. But the Plains states was not the only area being impacted by severe weather phenomena.
On December 28, California’s entire coastline, particularly the northern and southern parts of the state, experienced unusually dangerous high waves, resulting in flooding. The National Weather Service issued a flood warning until early morning on December 29, indicating an immediate threat to life and property due to flooding from large breaking waves.
Santa Cruz County officials warned residents to prepare for more rain as the month came to an end. Wind gusts were forecast to blow up to 40-50 miles per hour along the coast. High surfs were crashing into a Stinson Beach neighborhood, filling streets with sea water in a matter of minutes.
›“We’re asking everyone to get out, our objective is life, property and environment in that order, our main goal is making sure everyone is out of there safely,” said Chief Jesse Peri from Stinson Beach Fire Protection District, as reported on the local ABC 7 News website.
CNN reported that, offshore storms shoved waves toward communities along the California coast, bringing flooding and road closures and also frightening nearly 20 people who were briefly swept away along a Ventura beach on December 28. Eight people were taken to the hospital, officials said.
The swells were not expected to be a one-day occurrence. Some areas of the California coast were forecast to see towering waves—some up to 30 feet—through the weekend. The waves potentially could usher in high water and rip currents. Coastal flood alerts and high-surf alerts stretched from the U.S.-Mexico border to North of the Bay Area, reported CNN.
Just northwest of Los Angeles, 15 to 20 onlookers were briefly swept away after a large wave overtook a beach barrier in a Ventura neighborhood hit by high surf, Police Commander Ryan Weeks told CNN. The onlookers washed down the street about 30 to 50 yards, he said.
Meanwhile, Winter Storm Donovan was affecting people around the country during the Christmas holiday season.
December 24 and 25 were dangerous times for travel due to accumulation of ice from the ice storm, snow, and high winds. Sioux City, Iowa’s radio station KSCJ website reported. “Nebraska troopers responded to nearly 150 weather related incidents on Christmas Day. Troopers responded to 28 crashes and performed 117 motorist assists,” the station reported.
The effects of ice and snow caused semi-trucks to slip off the highways and caused at least two semi-trucks to jackknife. The jackknifed trucks produced a backup which led to the closure of I-80 Eastbound in Nebraska.
Nebraska State officials posted on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, that, “Eastbound I-80 is CLOSED at York due to multiple jack-knifed semis at mile marker 353.”
“Flood advisories and warnings were in place across New York, Massachusetts and Maryland, according to the National Weather Service.
On December 26, more than 7,500 U.S. flights were delayed, according to tracking statistics from FlightAware. The Federal Aviation Administration told The Washington Post that 4.6 percent of total flights were delayed that day, mostly due to weather.
Denver International Airport, a major hub for Southwest Airlines, had 48 percent of departing flights delayed but only one percent of departing flights canceled. Nearly 800 flights scheduled to leave or arrive in Denver were delayed on December 26.
There were also more than 500 total delays in both Charlotte and Orlando that day, reported washingtonpost.com.
As of December 8, 2023, the National Centers for Environmental Information reported on its website, “In 2023, there have been 25 confirmed weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each to affect United States. These events included one drought event, two flooding events, 19 severe storm events, one tropical cyclone event, one wildfire event, and one winter storm event.”
Advancing Earth and Space Sciences published a recent research report conducted by the Journal of Geophysical Research, that stated, “Extreme waves along the California coast are due to climate change, and an increase in ocean temperatures, which is resulting in climate-induced heightened wave activity.”
The National Weather Service office in Monterey Bay encouraged beachgoers to stay out and away from the water. “These conditions are very dangerous, I would go so far as to say they’re deadly on the coast,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Alexis Clouser, according to Yahoo News.
“Visitors to the shores should keep a healthy distance from the water and stay off rocks, piers and jetties because if a wave washes up it has the potential to sweep a person out into the ocean. If you do happen to see a person in the water or let’s say a dog, don’t go into the water after them. Call 911 and wait for a professional,” the meteorologist added.
Large portions of the midwestern region of the United States experienced warmer than usual weather for December. Forecasters reported December 2023 as the warmest December in history, with temperatures maintaining above average temperatures.
Unusual weather and natural weather-related disasters are not occurring in the U.S. or in other parts of the world by coincidence or happenstance. What is being witnessed is prophesized of in scripture.
For years, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, taught that Allah (God) would use the forces of nature to humble and punish America. His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, like his teacher, continues to warn America and the world to “watch the weather.”
Both of these Divine Servants of God have and are warning the masses of the people that America will be faced with divine chastisement for her evil against and enslavement of Black people and genocide against Native Americans. The extreme weather punishing America isn’t an accident; but is Allah’s (God’s) direct intervention and assault on the United States.
“God fights with the forces of nature: rain, hail, snow, wind and drought! He uses the insects and the animals, and turns nature against you!” Minister Farrakhan forewarned in a message from October 14, 2012, titled, “Guidance For Our President and Our Nation,” on the occasion of the 17th anniversary of the Million Man March.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate experts say warmer surface temperatures on the ocean will affect atmospheric and rainfall patterns during this winter season. The administration predicts the northern tier of the United States and West Coast will likely see warmer than average weather.
In the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s monumental book, “The Fall of America,” the Messenger states that Allah (God) is using the forces of nature to punish and humble America. “Woe to America, her day has arrived. She would not heed the warning.
I begged her to let us be separated from her on a little territory and a state to ourselves and let us be responsible for our own survival, only to get out from under her injustice; but she refused,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote in the chapter titled, “The Judgment of America.”
“So it was with Pharaoh in the time of Moses, God went down to Egypt to make Israel and her enemies, the Egyptians, an example for a future people so that this may serve as a sign of what we see going on in America today,” He added.
Minister Farrakhan teaches that the distress and affliction being witnessed is also directly related to how the people treat and respond to the Servants and Messengers God sends them to guide them back to His path.
“You can’t win in a war against God! But keep on going; you’ll understand it better not ‘by and by,’ but very soon! So after repeated Warnings that go unheeded, the problem is getting worse for America. The Qur’an says:
‘Whenever Allah sends you a messenger, then He seizes the people with distress and affliction …’ not to ‘destroy them,’ but that they might humble themselves to a Messenger that comes to them from among the meanest of the people!” the Minister pointed out in his 2012 message.
“If we just look at the distress and affliction that America is under as we speak: The distress is a result of how you’ve handled the warning from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his faithful Minister to you.” Final Call staff contributed to this report
(Shawntell Muhammad can be contacted at [email protected].)
›