Weather warnings were in effect for much of the country on Friday as a powerful storm moved over the Plains and Midwest, bringing freezing temperatures and heavy snow that blanketed roads, grounded flights and closed schools.
Morning and afternoon high temperatures are not expected to exceed zero in much of Montana and North Dakota on Friday, while temperatures in the Central Plains states, including Iowa and Minnesota, are expected to peak around 10 degrees, according to the NWS. Nationalism. Temperatures could drop to minus 40 degrees in parts of the northern plains. Under such conditions, wind chills can cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes, the weather service said.
By 6 a.m. local time, more than four inches of snow had fallen in parts of Iowa. Double-digit snowfall is expected in areas across the Midwest by early Saturday morning. The Chicago Weather Service reported Friday morning that 2 inches of snow covered the metro area and more was expected over the weekend. Flights at Chicago O'Hare International Airport have been temporarily suspended.
In the Southeast, damaging wind gusts threatened to produce tornadoes, alarming meteorologists, especially in the Gulf Coast region. The Weather Service issued a tornado warning from eastern Texas to western Mississippi. Wind warnings were in effect in East Texas, across the Gulf Coast and into Vermont.
In the Northeast, a polar advance of Gulf moisture will bring another round of heavy rain extending northward into the mid-Atlantic and southern New England by Friday night. Much of the Northeast is still reeling from a winter storm earlier this week that dumped torrential rain on the region, flooding coastal neighborhoods and low-lying areas from New Jersey to Maine.
The Pacific Northwest will also experience a frigid mix of Arctic air and gusty easterly winds keeping temperatures below zero. The Weather Service issued widespread wind chill warnings and watches and advised people to take precautions to avoid frostbite and hypothermia.
Developments:
∎ Blizzard warnings were issued Friday morning for areas of South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, according to the weather service.
∎ Roads across eastern Nebraska, Iowa and northern Illinois were “completely” covered in snow, slush or ice, according to a regional map of road conditions from the Iowa Department of Transportation. The Iowa State Patrol has issued a “Life-Threatening Winter Weather Advisory” asking people to stop non-essential travel overnight.
∎ More than 240,000 households were without power as of 10 a.m. Friday, according to a tracker maintained by USA TODAY. Most of the power outages were reported in Illinois, where nearly 100,000 utility customers were without power amid freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall.
∎ Parts of Utah and Wyoming are expected to see “massive snowfall” over the weekend, National Weather Service in Salt Lake City Announce. The area is under winter storm warnings, with northern Utah and southwestern Wyoming bracing for up to four feet of snow.
Gov. Kathy Hochul says the National Guard deployed ahead of the New York storm
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a news conference on Friday that the National Guard will be in place Saturday morning ahead of a major storm expected to impact much of the state.
Hochul said 11,000 crew members are ready to help in the event of a power outage, with 5,500 already stationed in the western part of the state.
“It's going to be freezing cold,” she said. “Do everything you can to stay safe and warm.”
Officials are preparing for blizzard-like conditions and temperatures to drop below freezing starting Saturday, with wind gusts of up to 70 mph posing the risk of power outages, Hochul's office said in a statement. Press release on Thursday.
The storm triggers a widespread state of emergency declaration in Wisconsin counties
Counties across Wisconsin on Friday issued and extended state of emergency declarations as a winter storm caused blizzard-like conditions in some areas. Many counties closed courthouses and district offices early in the day.
In Waukesha County, nonessential county employees were sent home at 1 p.m. Friday due to treacherous road conditions.
“The rate of snowfall and high winds have caused deterioration on our roads throughout the county,” a statement from County Executive Paul Farrow said. The declaration will remain in effect until Saturday afternoon.
County resident Tiffany Lawrence told USA TODAY that strong winds and rapid snowfall began overnight and more than a foot of snow had accumulated outside her home by the time she woke up Friday.
Lawrence, who owns a martial arts school in Waukesha with her husband, said she and her home-schooled children will “enjoy the snow.”
“We've waited a long time this year,” she said, noting that the first snow fell on Tuesday when an earlier winter storm blew through the Midwest. “We can't really complain now.”
Illinois residents woke up to a ferocious storm
The heaviest snowfall began around 4 a.m. local time, said Christine Forwell, a longtime resident of Romeoville, Illinois, a village about 25 miles southwest of Chicago.
“It started snowing really hard, and it continued for about two hours,” she told USA TODAY. “It's getting too rough.”
Forwell was one of about 90,000 utility customers who lost power Friday morning as the storm swept through the Midwest. Its power went out around 7 a.m. and remained out for most of the morning.
She said the high winds and snow were eventually replaced by “light flakes” a few hours later. There were snow piles at least two feet high when conditions improved.
Warming centers open their doors as cities across the country brace for a winter storm
Cities across the country are opening warming centers and winter shelters ahead of a winter storm that is expected to bring frigid temperatures and snowfall in some areas.
In chicagowhich could receive up to 12 inches of snow amid temperatures that can dip 30 degrees below zero with wind chills, the city has designated six community centers as “warming centers.”
The mayor of Akron, Ohio, announced Friday that a local community center will extend its hours from Sunday to Tuesday to serve as a warming center. The area is bracing for strong winds and snow showers this weekend, according to the Weather Channel.
In the south, Houston also opened six warming centers across the city as the region prepares for a polar front to move in late Saturday and Sunday. The city will also provide free rides to the centers, according to KHOU-11.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis also announced the opening of warming centers, noting that temperatures in the region may drop to less than ten degrees with wind chills below zero. Polis issued a disaster declaration that freed up resources to respond to the winter storm.
Heavy snowstorm forces GOP presidential candidates to cancel events Friday
Stormy conditions in Iowa have complicated event schedules for Republican presidential candidates before the start of the state's caucuses.
Nikki Haley's campaign has canceled three in-person events scheduled for Friday in Fort Dodge, Le Mars and Council Bluffs due to the weather. Instead, campaign officials said they will host telephone town halls.
“Inclement weather will not prevent us from ensuring that Iowans hear Nikki’s vision of a strong, proud America,” Haley spokesman Pat Garrett said in a statement to the newspaper. The Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network. “With just three days before the caucuses, we will continue to tell voters why they should choose Nikki.”
Ron DeSantis also canceled two events Friday morning.
However, Vivek Ramaswamy said he would continue with each event “as long as we can physically do so.” His campaign team got into a hole earlier this week and needed a passerby's help to get out.
– Des Moines Register
Bad weather causes a ground stop at Chicago airport
On Friday, bad weather led to the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights at airports across the country.
In Illinois, Chicago O'Hare International Airport temporarily suspended all flights Friday morning due to snow and ice. The FAA said. Just before 9 a.m., officials reported a two-hour delay at the airport that was expected to last until 8 p.m. local time.
Meteorologists warned people across the state to consider staying off the roads as 1-2 inches of snow fell per hour and visibility was limited. “Expect travel conditions to be hazardous to quite hazardous today across much of the region.” The weather service in Chicago said.
Schools closed amid the winter storm and severe weather
School closures were ubiquitous across the Midwest and Plains, where a strong winter storm dropped temperatures into the single digits and below zero.
Hundreds of public schools have canceled classes or moved to e-learning from Idaho to Illinois. Dozens of schools They were closed earlier this week when a storm tore through the country and brought blizzard conditions to the Midwest.
In the Southeast, schools across Georgia, Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee canceled classes ahead of expected storms that bring high winds, rain and the threat of tornadoes to the region.
Two men were rescued, one of whom is believed to have died in an avalanche in Idaho
Two men were rescued and the third is believed to have subsequently died An avalanche in Idaho swept through the backcountry Thursday afternoon.
The avalanche occurred near Stevens Peak in Shoshone County in the northern part of the state near the Montana-Washington border, about 100 miles from Spokane, Washington.
The Shoshone County Sheriff's Office said in a statement posted on social media that authorities received a GPS alert about a possible fatality near Stephen Peak shortly before 3 p.m. Law enforcement assembled a rescue team and were able to locate Two of the three men searching for their last location. Well-known site. Authorities believe the third man is dead.
“While questioning the two men, we received information that leads us to believe the third man died at the avalanche site,” the sheriff’s office said. Authorities began searching the area again on Friday.
Winter storms sweeping across the western United States all week have prompted meteorologists to issue avalanche warnings from Northern California to Washington. A warning was issued for the area where the avalanche occurred on Thursday.
On Wednesday, an avalanche at a ski resort near Lake Tahoe, California, killed one man and injured three others.
Bad weather will continue until next week
“Storms and winter weather are only the first part of the story as a wave of Arctic air will follow into the heart of the country in the wake of the storm system,” the National Weather Service said.
It will bring polar plunge The National Weather Service reported record low temperatures in a century across much of the country this weekend and into next week.
Sub-freezing temperatures reaching the Rocky Mountains and northern Plains will move south and east, the service said. By early next week, Arctic air will spread from south Texas to the Florida Panhandle.
What is a polar vortex?An in-depth look at how this will affect winter weather in the US next week
Weather watches and warnings in the United States
National weather radar
Contributing: Emily De Laiter, USA TODAY; News agency
