Storm leaves South Dakota motorists stranded, causes nearly 50 crashes in Minnesota
Minnesota authorities responded to nearly 50 vehicle crashes between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to its State Patrol. Four people were injured but no deaths have been reported. Wet roadways also caused 118 vehicle spinouts and a crash involving a semi-truck, the State Patrol said.
In South Dakota, the winter storm system left some motorists stranded on city streets, according to the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. Workers removed people from their cars throughout the night. A photo from the agency showed people sleeping on makeshift beds on the floor of a building.
114 million people are under winter weather alerts
As the giant storm system sweeps across the United States, 114 million people are under winter weather alerts, and blizzard warnings are in effect for portions of eight states.
More than 120 million people are under wind chill alerts. Forecasters said temperatures in some areas have dropped more than 30 degrees in a matter of minutes. By the time the weather system has moved through, an estimated 192 million people across 46 states will have experienced wind chills below zero.
Residents of parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and the Plains woke up Thursday morning to snow, while areas to the southeast up into Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania were hit with a messy wintry mix and heavy rain.
As the storm moves across the northern Ohio Valley, it is expected to become a bomb cyclone.
Weather forecasters warn that heavy rain could cause coastal flooding in cities including Boston and New York. A flood warning is in effect in New York City from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday, while Boston is under a warning from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday.
More than 1,200 flights are canceled as storm approaches
More than 1,200 flights within, to and out of the United States have been canceled as of Thursday morning, according to FlightAware.com. Another 1,218 flights within, to and out of the U.S. are delayed.
Chicago O’Hare International Airport said it pre-emptively canceled nearly 400 flights. Meanwhile, Kansas City International Airport urged travelers to check their airline carriers’ websites for the latest information.
“We expect airline delays and cancellations in advance of and during the approaching snow storm, some even tonight,” it said in a tweet. “Many airlines are waiving change fees.”
NHL cancels game because of ‘severe winter storm’
Friday’s game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres has been postponed because of the “severe winter storm,” the NHL said in a statement.
The game will instead be played at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center on March 4, the statement said.
Atlanta to open warming centers
Atlanta is set to open two emergency warming centers due to the impending drop in temperatures. The locations will open Thursday at 8 p.m. and remain open until Tuesday morning.
Holiday postal deliveries on track for Christmas despite delays
WASHINGTON — With just days to go until Christmas, the U.S. Postal Service says it is on track to meet its holiday delivery deadlines, despite worker shortages across the country that have caused delays and disruptions to mail and package deliveries in the run-up to the holidays.
The Postal Service expects all priority mail packages shipped by Dec. 19 and express packages shipped by Dec. 23 to arrive at their destinations by Christmas. The agency said on-time deliveries have increased from last year, with nearly 92% of first-class letters arriving within one to five days. Around 96% of packages have been getting to their destinations on time this month, according to the independent data firm Shipmatrix.
It’s a vast improvement from where the Postal Service was at this time two years ago, when a wave of Covid infections, a surge in online shopping and operational issues resulted in weeks of delays for holiday packages.
Read the full article here.
Heavy snowfall in Brooklyn Center, Minn.
Travel will be ‘dangerous’ in the Great Lakes region, forecasters warn
Land and air travel will be “dangerous” and “at times impossible,” in the Great Lakes region leading up to the holiday weekend, the National Weather Service warned Thursday.
Snowfall could exceed a foot, the weather service said in a bulletin, adding that “wind gusts of over 50 mph will result in near-zero visibility and considerable blowing and drifting of snow.”
“This will lead to dangerous, to at times impossible, land and air travel leading up to the holiday weekend,” the bulletin said.
Near-blizzard conditions reported in Kansas
Record temperature drop recorded at Denver International Airport
Temperatures in Denver are expected to sink below zero by Thursday morning, the National Weather Service has warned.
Forecasters reported that the temperature Wednesday plummeted by 37 degrees in one hour at Denver International Airport — from 42 F to 5 F — a record drop at that location.
“That’s the kind of changes that are going to be occurring as this front pushes southward: rapid temperature drops, sometimes 50 or more degrees colder than the previous day,” said Bob Oravec, a forecaster with the weather service. “It’s a pretty powerful, powerful system.”
Wisconsin, Missouri and Illinois to face winter blast Thursday
Green Bay, Wisconsin; St. Louis; and Chicago could be among the major cities most affected Thursday by a freezing winter storm that is blanketing large parts of the country, according to forecasters.
Memphis, Tennessee, and Little Rock, Arkansas, could get rain and snow Thursday afternoon and evening, and Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City could get heavy rain, according to NBC News’ Climate Unit.
Freezing temperatures have already been felt farther west. Snow began falling in Minnesota on Wednesday. From 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, there were more than 200 vehicle crashes and 189 spinouts, the State Patrol said. There were no deaths.
More than 59 million people, including most of Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota east to parts of Ohio, were under winter storm warnings Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service.
Another 7 million were under blizzard warnings, and wind chill warnings covered 57 million people, as far west as Washington state and including Texas and Tennessee, according to the agency. A low of 11 degrees was forecast for Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday. The wind chill will make it feel worse.
Airlines have pledged to waive change fees or to take other steps to help passengers in anticipation of travel disruptions.
More than 100 cars are stuck in South Dakota, authorities say
Authorities in South Dakota were helping more than 100 drivers who were stranded when an arctic front blasted the region with subzero temperatures and near-blizzard conditions, officials said.
The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office said the motorists were stuck between Rapid City and Wall. It told drivers to stay in their vehicles and call 911.
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