Blizzard conditions bear down on central U.S., closing schools and highwaysNature 15:18, 09-Jan-2024

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A "highly impactful" winter storm is expected to deliver a punch to the country's midsection on Monday and into Tuesday, with blizzard conditions dumping as much as a foot or more of snow and shutting down schools and highways in several Midwest states.

Snow as deep as 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 centimeters) could blanket a broad area stretching from southeastern Colorado all the way to the upper peninsula of Michigan, including western Kansas, eastern Nebraska, large parts of Iowa, northern Missouri and northwestern Illinois, said Bob Oravec, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

There were widespread school closures across Nebraska and Kansas on Monday ahead of the storm, where forecasters predicted 5 to 8 inches (12 to 20 centimeters) of snow. The district that includes Nebraska's capital, Lincoln, told students to stay home. Lines were long Sunday at a Target Store drive-up in Omaha as residents stocked up on milk, bread and booze ahead of the storm.

The National Weather Service office in Des Moines, Iowa, warned of the potential for "widespread heavy, possibly extreme, snowfall," with up to 9 to 15 inches (23 to 38 centimeters), and warned that commuters on Monday evening and Tuesday morning would face "significant impacts," with possible whiteout conditions at times. Dubuque, on Iowa's eastern border with Illinois, closed its city offices Tuesday. Schools in Cedar Rapids in eastern Iowa were among those closing Tuesday.

Cars travel on the snowy highway in between terminals at Logan International Airport during a storm in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., January 7, 2024. /CFP

Cars travel on the snowy highway in between terminals at Logan International Airport during a storm in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., January 7, 2024. /CFP

In South Dakota, Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken urged residents not to travel Monday if they did not have to, and to give snowplows time and patience so they can clear the roads.

Parts of northern Missouri braced for up to a foot of snow. Officials in Kansas City, Missouri, said City Hall would be closed Tuesday and municipal courts would operate remotely. But the Missouri Department of Transportation said it was ready for its first big snowfall of the season, with at least 100 new employees after a shortage of snowplow drivers last winter.

Much of western and southern Minnesota as well as west-central Wisconsin were under winter storm warnings or advisories with snow accumulations of up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) predicted.

Northwestern Illinois was also under a winter storm warning with forecasts calling or 7 to 12 inches (18 to 30 centimeters) of snow by early Wednesday morning. The Chicago area as well as Gary, Indiana, were under winter storm advisories, with forecasts calling for up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow by Tuesday evening and wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour (48 kph) in Chicago. Snowfall rates could exceed an inch per hour during the day Tuesday, the weather service said.

The disruptions extended as far south as the Oklahoma panhandle, where Cimmaron County emergency managers asked citizens to stay home. More than a dozen motorists were stranded there Monday afternoon, with whipping winds and blizzard conditions leading to near-zero visibility, said Lea Lavielle, the county's emergency management director.

A blizzard warning remained in effect through Tuesday morning for the Oklahoma Panhandle and northern and western parts of the Texas Panhandle, with snowfall accumulations of up to 8 inches expected along with wind gusts up to 121 kph.

The Gulf Coast in southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi was under a tornado watch, as residents in New Orleans and other communities braced for storm weather, and several school systems dismissed classes early Monday.

New York's governor is warning that heavy rains and high winds on Tuesday could lead to major power outages throughout the state and flash flooding, especially in the Hudson Valley.

The storm follows a separate storm that has moved offshore after dumping over a foot of snow Sunday on parts of Pennsylvania, New York state and portions of New England, Oravec said.

And another storm is on the way that will affect the Pacific Northwest into the northern Rockies, he said. Blizzard warnings were out for much of the Cascade and Olympic ranges in Washington and Oregon.