A fierce winter storm hammered more than a dozen US states on Tuesday with dangerous ice, heavy snow and vicious winds that threatened to create 4.5m drifts in parts of the upper Midwest.
As much as two-thirds of the US will be affected by the storm by the time it moves off the Maine coast tonight, said Jim Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines.
After drenching California with rain and blanketing mountains in the West, the storm was expected to bring significant snowfall and blizzard conditions from Utah to the Great Lakes. Wind advisories and warnings were in effect from New Mexico to the Mid-Atlantic states with flooding in the south. Winter storm warnings were likely to be issued in the northeastern New England states yesterday.
Snowfall as heavy as 30cm was expected in parts of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, meteorologists said. Wind gusts of up to 80kph could create snow drifts of 2.4m to 4.5m.
The storm also brought 160kph winds to New Mexico, where powerful gusts ripped away the roof of the White Sands Missile Range’s police station.
At least five deaths were blamed on the weather, including a hunter in northern Arizona who was killed on Monday night when the top of a large pine tree snapped off and crushed him as he slept in a tent.
In two Utah counties alone, there were 155 vehicle accidents involving property damage in 14 hours, the Utah Highway Patrol said.
Heavy ice forced road closures in Oklahoma and Arizona.
With travel likely to get worse, officials were warning residents in parts of the West and Midwest to stay close to home. Blizzard warnings were issued for most of Iowa as well as eastern Nebraska, northeastern Kansas, southern Minnesota and southern Wisconsin.
Some grade schools closed before the worst of the storm was expected to hit so that buses wouldn’t slip on slick roads, while some universities also canceled classes and events yesterday.
“Anybody traveling tomorrow morning is really taking a huge risk I would say — a risk of being stranded and not having anybody be able to help you for six or 12 hours, probably,” said Karl Jungbluth, a meteorologist in Johnston, Iowa.
Flights were snarled in the Midwest and West. Hundreds of flights were canceled at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago; all departures were canceled out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and only a few were scheduled at Des Moines International Airport.
Heavy rain pounded some parts of the South. More than 10cm were reported in spots in New Orleans.
The storm had hit much of the West on Monday with wind chills as cold as minus 17°C in Washington state and heavy snow that closed schools and government offices in Reno, Nevada.
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