The blizzard that blasted Colorado and shut down the Denver airport swept through the US midwest on Thursday, leading to at least two weather-related traffic deaths and dumping up to 30cm of snow in Wisconsin, officials said.
A woman and her 15-year-old sister died when their van crossed over the median of a slippery highway in Hartford, Connecticut, at about 11:10am and crashed into an oncoming semi-truck, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.
The truck driver, from Ontario, Canada, was not injured.
Photo: AP
US National Weather Service meteorologist Bob McMahon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said sleet was falling in Washington County before it received as much as 5cm of snow by the evening, adding that northern and central Wisconsin bore the brunt of the storm, pummeled by a band that dropped up to 30cm of snow.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in response to severe winter weather and blizzard conditions.
Snow was predicted again for parts of Colorado late yesterday and today, but conditions are not expected to be as severe as they were on Wednesday, US National Weather Service forecaster Andrew Orrison said.
“We’re not expecting snow like what we just had,” Orrison said.
A cold front moved across Louisiana, which received heavy showers and thunderstorms in the southeastern part of the state, Orrison said.
The rain had dissipated by Thursday afternoon, forecasters said.
A tornado watch was in effect until 7pm on Thursday for the central gulf coast region, from Gulfport, Mississippi, to Panama City, Florida, forecasters said.
In addition, Mobile, Alabama, issued a flash flood warning that was in effect until 4pm on Thursday after the airport there saw more than 5cm of rain in about one-and-a-half-hours, a forecaster said.
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