OMAHA, Neb. (CN) — A winter storm swept across the central U.S. on Monday, shutting down much of the Great Plains and prompting the closure of major interstates, the cancellation of high school and college classes and warnings from officials to stay home.
Interstate 70 in western Kansas was closed, as was Interstate 40 west of Amarillo, Texas. Officials shut down Interstate 80 in Nebraska between Grand Island and Lexington due to what the State Patrol deemed “whiteout conditions.”
“We have a big area of low pressure and usually what you associate with low pressure is your more stormy events,” said Michaela Wood, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley, Nebraska, near Omaha. “It’s bringing impacts to a good chunk of the country out here.”
The low pressure system drew cold weather down from Canada and moist air up from the Gulf of Mexico. “Where a lot of that meets is where you will get your snowfall,” Wood said.
The blizzard warning extended from northeast New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, western Kansas and several counties of south-central Nebraska. A winter storm warning extended from eastern Nebraska and Kansas across the Midwest to Wisconsin and Lake Michigan.
The closed interstates are major American east-west arteries.
“There are a lot of interstates closed,” Wood said. “In terms of freight and moving things around I imagine this will have quite an impact.”
Megan Williams, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Slidell, Louisiana, near New Orleans, said heavy rain and winds across Texas and the Gulf Coast were a result of the low-pressure system.
“We’ve got these scattered to numerous storms coming through Heavy rainfall and 60 mph winds,” she said Monday afternoon. “Later tonight we are expecting a line of storms to be moving though our area, and this will have the greatest potential to see severe weather with the potential for tornadoes.”
Back in the Plains states, forecasters expected high winds Monday night and into Tuesday, with the possibility of ground blizzards, making travel difficult if not impossible, even in areas like Omaha which were outside of the blizzard warning.
This could lead to situations on Tuesday where hapless homeowners try to clear their sidewalks or driveways only to have high winds blow more snow onto onto them. “In terms of snow removal, it’s going to be quite the 24 hours here.”
Six to ten inches of snow was expected in and around Nebraska’s largest city. Snow was expected to accumulate through midnight.
“The snow will keep accumulating through today until around midnight,” Wood said. “Tuesday evening and into Wednesday is when things should really start to clear up.”
Starting Tuesday the system will move east toward the Great Lakes and then on late Wednesday and Thursday toward the eastern seaboard.
“It will weaken a little bit as it goes but it is going to bring impacts throughout the week to a good amount of people,” Wood said.
On Monday there were also blizzard warnings in the Cascades of Oregon and Washington state, the result of a different low pressure system that was expected to move into Canada, Wood said, though they may eventually impact the Dakotas.
The National Weather Service does not name winter storms, but the Weather Channel does, deeming this one Winter Storm Finn.
from Courthouse News
