NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A tornado ripped off roofs, knocked down utility polls and cut off power to thousands in New Orleans early Wednesday, but no serious injuries were reported in what one city official called an unexpected “dry run” for the approaching hrricane season.

PHOENIX (AP) — Three more national forests in Arizona have imposed campfire and smoking restrictions aimed at preventing human-caused wildfires like a large blaze now being fought by hundreds of firefighters supported by aircraft.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A spell of dry, mild weather is giving the Great Lakes a break after two years of high water that has shattered records and heavily damaged shoreline roads and homes, officials said Monday.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A deluge that dumped more than 7 inches of rain in a few hours and spawned at least three tornadoes eased Wednesday but left homeowners and workers to clean up a wide area across the Southeast.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Relentless winds and rain pummeled large swaths of the South on Tuesday, causing tornadoes, sparking a flash flood emergency in Alabama and damaging homes from Texas to Virginia.

WAXAHACHIE, Texas (AP) — At least eight people were injured when storms that brought at least five tornadoes to North Texas flipped tractor-trailers on an interstate and damaged structures.

Three drivers were hospitalized, one with serious injuries, after their tractor-trailers overturned in the storms Monday night along Interstate 35 near Waxahachie, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Dallas, officials said.

YAZOO CITY, Miss. (AP) — Severe storms spawning multiple tornadoes moved across the South on Monday, damaging homes and uprooting trees from Mississippi to West Virginia. A tornado spotted in Atlanta forced thousands to seek shelter, and one man was killed when a falling tree brought power lines onto his vehicle.

BEIJING (AP) — An extreme thunderstorm hit an eastern Chinese city, leaving 11 dead and 66 injured, with strong winds causing buildings and trees to collapse, officials said.

Nantong city, located in the eastern province of Jiangsu, was among the hardest-hit when the extreme weather swept the Yangtze Delta on Friday night, according to state-affiliated newspaper Global Times.

MADRID, Iowa (AP) — In 43 years of farming, Morey Hill had seen crop-destroying weather, rock-bottom prices, trade fights and surges in government aid, but not until last year had he endured it all in one season.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders for big-ticket manufactured goods rebounded 0.5% in March as U.S. factories recovered from February weather disruptions. However, the recovery was not as strong as most had expected due to ongoing supply chain disruptions that continue to ensnare U.S.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX on Wednesday bumped its next astronaut launch by a day because of dangerously high waves and wind offshore.

Liftoff is now scheduled an hour before sunrise Friday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, when better weather is expected.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An approaching powerful typhoon has left at least one person dead, another missing and prompted the evacuation of more than 100,000 people as a precaution in the eastern and central Philippines, although the unusual summer storm is not expected to blow into land, officials said Monday.

BOSTON (AP) — New Englanders who had enjoyed an early spring were brought back to a cold, blustery reality Friday with a storm packing powerful wind gusts, lashing rain and heavy, wet snow.

More than a foot of snow piled up Spofford in western New Hampshire, and wind gusts hit 60 mph (96 kph) at the Isles of Shoals about 6 miles (10 kilometers) off the New Hampshire Coast, according to the National Weather Service.

MILAN (AP) — The head of the U.N. refugee agency on Friday said he has urged Italy not to unnecessarily impede NGOs that operate migrant rescue ships in the central Mediterranean, as warmer weather is expected to bring the usual seasonal uptick in the departure of smugglers’ boats from Libya.

PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) — Families anxiously awaited news of the 12 people missing from a capsized oil industry vessel Thursday while divers searching for survivors knocked on the ship's hull without response.

HONOLULU (AP) — As muddy rainwater surged from Hawaii's steep seaside mountains and inundated residential communities last month, the damage caused by flooding was obvious — houses were destroyed and businesses swamped, landslides covered highways and raging rivers and streams were clogged with debris.

PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) — Coast Guard boats and aircraft have covered an area larger than the state of Rhode Island to search for 12 people still missing Wednesday off the Louisiana coast after their offshore oilfield vessel capsized in hurricane-force winds.

DALLAS (AP) — The electric grid manager for most of Texas issued an electricity conservation watch Tuesday, appealing to customers to conserve electricity despite weather conditions typical for spring.

LONDON (AP) — People across Britain flocked to shed shaggy locks and browse for clothes, books and other “non-essential” items as shops, gyms, hairdressers, restaurant patios and beer gardens reopened Monday after months of lockdown.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Rain forced the postponement of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway after just 42 laps Saturday night, setting up a doubleheader Sunday.

The day will start at noon with the completion of an Xfinity Series race that was suspended after 91 laps Friday night.

BIG SUR, Calif. (AP) — Highway 1 along Big Sur is expected to reopen by April 30 because work to repair a huge piece of roadway that crumbled during a storm is nearly two months ahead of schedule, the California Department of Transportation announced Thursday.

HELSINKI (AP) — Bad weather conditions have postponed efforts to salvage a Dutch cargo ship that's been drifting off the coast of Norway for two days after its crew was evacuated, Norwegian maritime officials said Wednesday.

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit grew to a record $71.1 billion in February as a decline in exports more than offset a slight dip in imports, with severe weather taking much of the blame from analysts, who were expecting a slightly lower gap.

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A late spate of wintry weather swept Croatia and Slovenia on Tuesday, causing traffic disruptions.

Blizzards and strong winds in part of Croatia prompted authorities to issue warnings to travelers and close some roads for heavy trucks with trailers.