Winter storm brings snow, freezing rain to parts of central US

CHICAGO: A major winter storm with millions of Americans in its path brought a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow to the central US as airlines cancelled thousands of flights, officials urged residents to stay off roads and schools closed campuses.

The blast of frigid weather, which began arriving on Tuesday night and continued on Wednesday, put a long stretch of states from New Mexico and Colorado to Maine under winter storm warnings and watches. On Wednesday morning, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan saw freezing rain, sleet and snow.

By midday on Wednesday, some places had already reported snow totals exceeding or nearing a foot, including the central Illinois town of Lewistown with 36.6cm and the northeastern Missouri city of Hannibal with 29.2cm.

“And it’s still snowing across these areas,” said Andrew Orrison,

a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

Central Illinois and northern Indiana appeared likely to receive the most snowfall, with expected totals ranging from 30 to 45cm by the end of Thursday, Orrison said.

Snow had begun to taper off in Missouri by early afternoon but much of the state could wind up with 20 to 30cm of snow. Parts of Michigan also could snow totals around a foot by Thursday.

In central Missouri, officials shut down part of Interstate 70 midday after a crash made the roadway impassable.

Areas south of the heavy snow were expected to see freezing rain, with the heaviest ice predicted along the lower Ohio Valley area from Louisville, Kentucky, to Memphis, Tennessee.

Airlines cancelled nearly 8,000 flights in the US scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, the flight-tracking service FlightAware.com showed.