1-2 punch of ice, snow bear down on region; messy travel
Brace yourself. Winter is coming early this year.
The region is bracing for a double-dose of ugly winter weather on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Rain is expected to spread across the region Saturday night, and ice could be a problem Sunday morning. Most of the hazardous conditions will remain in the nebulous “northern and western suburbs.” Roads could ice up, especially north and west.
The second half of this winter double-header will hit Monday, with a chance of accumulating snow, again in the northern and western suburbs.
The National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, got into the act, issuing a winter weather advisory for messy conditions for the first half of this winter-palooza from 3 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. Their primary concern for Sunday is icing on the roads, as temperatures dip after rain moves into the area Saturday night.
PennDOT spokesman Brad Rudolph indicated state trucks would be out in force overnight into Sunday morning to treat the roads and keep cars moving. The big fear is that it gets cold enough for the rain to change to freezing rain and sleet.
And that’s just for Sunday. The issue for Monday could be snow, with a chance of some accumulations north and west of the region.
Here’s the official call from the National Weather Service:
Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 32. North wind around 6 mph becoming east after midnight.
Sunday: A chance of sleet before 8 a.m., then freezing rain between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., then rain after 9 a.m. High near 44. East wind 8 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. Little or no sleet accumulation expected.
Sunday Night: Rain, mainly before 2 a.m. Low around 37. Northeast wind 8 to 11 mph becoming north after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Monday: Rain, snow, and sleet likely before 10 a.m.,
then rain likely between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., then rain and snow likely after 4 p.m. Cloudy, with a high near 40. Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph.
Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Monday Night: Rain and snow likely before midnight, then a chance of snow between midnight and 2 a.m. Cloudy, with a low around 29. Northwest wind 9 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 41.
In the meantime, much of the country was dealing with this nasty storm, providing tricky travel plans to cap the busiest travel weekend of the year.
A powerful and dangerous storm moved eastward, dumping heavy snow from parts of California to the northern Midwest and inundating other areas with rain.
Authorities found the bodies of two young children, including a 5-yearold boy, and a third child was missing in central Arizona after a vehicle was swept away while attempting to cross a runoff-swollen creek. A storm-related death also was reported in South Dakota.
The National Weather Service said the storm was expected to drop 6 to 12 inches (15-30 centimeters) of snow from the northern Plains states into Minnesota, Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
Blizzard conditions early Saturday were already buffeting the High Plains. The city of Duluth, Minnesota, issued a “no travel advisory” beginning at noon Saturday because of a major snow storm it termed “historic.”
Duluth officials asked the public to be patient as plows clear roadways and recommended that drivers stay off the roads to prevent accidents and let officers respond more quickly to emergencies.
Farther south, rain and thunderstorms were forecast along and ahead of the cold front, with heavy rainfall possible Saturday in parts of the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys.
Forecasters said a new storm is expected to bring California several feet of mountain snow, rain and gusty winds through the weekend. Another system is forecast to develop in the mid-Atlantic Sunday, moving as a nor’easter into Monday.
Airlines at O’Hare International and Midway International in Chicago reported average delays of 15 minutes as a winter storm headed toward the Midwest with heavy snow and ice and gusty winds.
The companies said they had canceled 27 flights at O’Hare and two at Midway as people scramble to get home on the year’s busiest travel weekend.
At Denver International Airport, there were 100 flights canceled Saturday because of high winds.
“Tomorrow, the airlines anticipate to be the busiest travel day of the Thanksgiving period at both O’Hare and Midway,” said Karen Pride, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation. “Everybody thinks the day before Thanksgiving is the busiest; it is not.”
Authorities in the western states were still grappling Saturday with the aftermath of heavy rains and snow over the busiest travel weekend of the year.
In Arizona, officials initially the found body of the
5-year-old about 3 miles
(4.8 kilometers) downstream from where the vehicle they were riding in was swept away Friday, said Gila County sheriff’s Lt. Virgil Dodd. The second of the three children turned up later Saturday. The sheriff’s office didn’t provide the age and gender of the second child or the third child who was still missing late Saturday afternoon.
The agency said Saturday two other children and two adults who were in the vehicle were rescued from a small island and the bank of the creek in Tonto National Forest northeast of Phoenix. Sheriff’s officials initially had said six people, including four children, were rescued Friday at locations along the creek.