Snowstorms in Midwest, Southwest disrupt travel
OMAHA, Neb. — A major winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of the heartland while another system blanketed parts of the Southwest with snow, disrupting travel for a second consecutive day Tuesday and shuttering many schools.
There were closures of several coronavirus testing sites on Monday and Tuesday in Nebraska and Iowa, and both states saw 12 to 15 inches of snow in places. At least 4 inches of snow was expected through Tuesday across most of an area stretching from central Kansas northeast to Chicago and southern Michigan.
National Weather Service meteorologist Taylor Nicolaisen said up to 15 inches was reported in spots between York, Neb., and Des Moines, Iowa. He said it’s uncommon for the region to get more than a foot of snow from a single storm, and it has been decades since some cities saw this much.
“A lot of people tend to misremember snow events — especially from when you were a kid. Everything felt like a foot of snow when you were a kid,” Nicolaisen said. “The snow drifts were literally higher than your head when you were a kid, but that’s because you were 2½ feet tall.”
The storm made travel treacherous in places as wind-whipped snow piled up. Interstates were temporarily closed in western Nebraska and in Wisconsin near Milwaukee because of crashes Tuesday morning, and scores of flights were canceled at airports across the region. Officials urged drivers to stay off the roads.
In the Southwest, more than a foot of snow fell in the mountains of Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. Icy conditions in mountains north of Los Angeles shut Interstate 5 in Tejon Pass and State Route 58 in Tehachapi Pass.
A storm buried northern Arizona in snow while sending flurries to the outskirts of Las Vegas and Phoenix. Most of Nevada was bracing for another series of powerful winter storms that could bring several feet of snow to the mountains above Lake Tahoe by Thursday.