Major winter storm plows across the southern Plains
Texas man killed; blizzards forecast
The storm is expected to bring blizzard conditions and 6 to 8 inches of snow as it strengthens and moves northeast into the upper Ohio River Valley through southern Missouri and Illinois, the National Weather Service said on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON — A major winter storm brought a rare white Christmas to the southern Plains on Tuesday, contributing to a 21-vehicle pileup that shut a major highway in Oklahoma and the death of a Texas man.
The storm is expected to bring blizzard conditions and 6 to 8 inches of snow as it strengthens and moves northeast into the upper Ohio River Valley through southern Missouri and Illinois, the National Weather Service said.
The system carried the threat of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms along its southern fringe, from southeast Texas to Alabama, as it surged east from Kansas and the Texas Panhandle, the weather service said.
A 25-year-old Texas man was killed when a tree fell across the road in Harris County, in the Houston metropolitan area, according to Thomas Gilliland of the county’s sheriff ’s office.
A tornado destroyed a building 13 miles southeast of Crockett, Texas, and a bank lost a section of its roof, according to AccuWeather.com.
Freezing drizzle overnight led to 10 collisions on Interstate 40 at Oklahoma City just before 3 a.m., said Trooper Betsy Randolph, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
The 21-vehicle pileup shut the westbound lanes for about five hours, Randolph said.
Twelve people were taken to hospitals.
Snow was reported in parts of Texas and Oklahoma, including Dallas and Oklahoma City, according to AccuWeather. Several flights were canceled at Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport on Monday ahead of the storm, the airport said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the FlightAware website, which tracks flight delays, said 210 U.S. flights had been canceled, with about one-third for American Airlines. American’s largest hub is at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which got snow Tuesday afternoon, according to AccuWeather.
Ahead of the storm’s path, parts of eastern West Virginia were under a winter storm warning. Ice accumulations of up to half an inch are expected in higher elevations, the National Weather Service said. By Tuesday afternoon, Little Rock, Ark., was experiencing thunder and freezing rain, AccuWeather said.
In all, according to Weather Channel forecasters, the storm will have dumped snow from California to New England by the time it leaves the U.S. on Friday.
It brought Amarillo, Texas, its first back-to-back white Christmases since 1894-95, the Weather Channel said.