A massive winter storm roaring across the West dumped 3 feet of snow in parts of Idaho, prompted blizzard warnings in six other states and fueled concerns of possibly severe tornadoes in the South.
More than 25 million Americans were under dangerous weather watches and warnings Tuesday. The march across the nation could last through the weekend, when parts of the northeast could be blasted with more than a foot of snow, forecasters warned.
“This is a “we are not kidding” kind of storm,” the South Dakota Department of Transportation tweeted as it warned of road closures across much of the state. “BLIZZARD and ICE STORM WARNINGS have been issued. Rain/freezing rain and heavy snow coupled with high winds will impact travel.”
Parts of Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Kansas were facing blizzard conditions – snow with winds of at least 35 mph, reducing visibilities to a quarter of a mile or less – and several other states faced winter storm and ice storm warnings, the National Weather Service said.
In Colorado, the weather service office in Boulder said state transportation department cameras showed “deteriorating conditions across the plains” Tuesday morning. The storm was forecast to rage through Wednesday, and the weather service said several highways already had closed. Conditions were expected to worsen amid heavy snow and wind gusts that could reach 60 mph.
‘WHITEOUT CONDITIONS:Winter storm could fuel blizzard conditions, travel havoc across swath of US
East Coast won’t be spared
AccuWeather said the storm will create a “spinoff system” along the East Coast that could bring a foot of snow or more to parts of the Northeast along with icy conditions and coastal flooding.
“A storm will develop near southeastern Virginia on Thursday, track just off the New Jersey coast on Friday and finally spin near southeastern New England on Saturday,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said. She forecast a widespread snowfall for a large part of the region.
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Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi could see tornadoes
In Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi the concern was “severe hail, winds, and tornadoes, including the potential for a couple strong tornadoes,” the weather service said.
AccuWeather warned that the line of storms will gain intensity and become more widespread as it slides east. Storms will have the capacity to produce damaging wind gusts, hail, drenching rainfall and tornadoes through Tuesday night, AccuWeather said. Tuesday’s severe weather could stretch into major population centers such as Houston; Dallas; Little Rock, Arkansas; and New Orleans, AccuWeather said.
Anchorage schools set to reopen after ‘unprecedented’ storms
Even Alaska wasn’t safe – a series of record-breaking storms forced closure of Anchorage schools for a week, unprecedented in a city accustomed to dealing with wintry conditions.
“Barring any unforeseen weather conditions in the next 12 hours, it’s back-to-school tomorrow as best we can given these unprecedented back-to-back snow storms,” the district said in a Facebook post Monday. “It’s going to take patience and planning as a community to make it happen.”
Story Credit: usatoday.com