The United States has been rocked by 500 tornadoes in the past 30 days with a trapped jet stream in the atmosphere “stuck in neutral,” according to the U.S. Storm Prediction Center.

A potentially record-breaking storm is squeezing the warmth from spring as it brings snow and howling winds across the Great Plains and threatens to flood rivers from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

The deluge that devastated so much of the Midwest over the last week could be a preview for one of the worst years for flooding in the United States, according to federal weather officials.

Hurricane Harvey strengthened as it headed toward landfall in Texas, forecast to become the worst storm to strike the region in more than a decade. The price of gasoline rallied as the storm threatened to wreak havoc on the heart of America’s energy sector.