More than 90 million Americans are heading for a severe winter storm that started early Wednesday with snow, high winds and bitter cold in eastern Dakotas and western Minnesota. It then began to move east, making travel treacherous and ground flight on one of the most anticipated air travel since the beginning of the corona pandemic.
Areas such as Norfolk, Virginia, and Raleigh, North Carolina, could expect tornadoes Thursday, CBS New York weather forecaster Lonnie Quinn said on Wednesday in CBS Evening News.
“The winds are 50, 60, 70 mph gusts in downtown New York City, downtown Boston. Mount Washington could very well come close to a record wind speeds of over 150 mph,” said Quinn , warning that it is during Christmas in the Northeast.
Blizzard warnings were posted in the region when National Weather Service officials called for the chills to drop to 35 F below zero, pushed by gusts of more than 100 mph. Numerous travel advice urged motorists to stay off the road and several highways were closed completely.
“Winter has arrived,” said Greg Gust, a weather service meteorologist in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
The storm was centered in southeastern Minnesota and was set to move steadily toward Eau Claire, Wisconsin and northern Michigan on Wednesday evening. The heaviest snow tire stretched from the Iron Range in northeastern Minnesota back to Watertown in eastern South Dakota, Gust said.
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The storm hit the Twin Cities area Wednesday afternoon, where Gust said at least 20 inches of snow was expected. Eastbound Interstate 94 was closed for three hours between Monticello and Rogers, west of Minneapolis, due to a multiple vehicle crash and a pile-up. State transportation officials said the highway would likely only have one lane at night and warned travelers about vehicles in the ditch.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport had faced about 300 flight cancellations and 40 delays as of Wednesday afternoon, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said. It was expected to be the third busiest day of the Christmas holidays, after next Sunday and Saturday, he said.
“A lot of people were able to get away this morning, but it can be difficult this afternoon and evening,” Hogan said.
Earlier in the day, a large group of people showed up at Hector International Airport in Fargo, North Dakota, to find out that most flights had been canceled due to high winds and poor visibility.
“Today was likely to be our busiest day since COVID hit or at least just before Thanksgiving,” said Shawn Dobberstein, executive director of Fargo Airport Authority. “Our building was pretty full this morning when American, Delta, United decided to cancel some flights.”
Andy Clayton-King / AP
The strongest gust was 62 mph in Fargo, Gust said. Conditions started to improve as the storm moved east, and Dobberstein hoped flights would resume later in the afternoon.
Authorities in southeastern South Dakota responded to several multi-vehicle pileups, including one on I-29 north of Sioux Falls with at least a dozen cars and a dozen trailers, according to Dell Rapids volunteer firefighter Rick Morris. He said there were several non-life-threatening injuries and some emergency vehicles were trapped, the Argus leader reported.
Other drivers in eastern North and South Dakota chose to await the storm. The Coffee Cup Travel Plaza, one of the few stops on I-94 in northeastern South Dakota, was quiet Wednesday morning, said Dani Zubke, an employee at the store near the city of Summit.
“There is drifting snow, poor visibility and no travel advice,” she said. ‘It has been very slow. I don’t know if there are many people out there. Sometimes you can only see the end of our parking lot. ‘