Monster snowstorm to blanket more than half of US
NEW YORK/TAOS, N.M: A massive winter storm hit the US Rockies and Plains then punched east, with snow set to assault a 1,609km corridor through the weekend, creating transportation ‘havoc’ in the middle of the country.
The system started as rain from Mexico and turned to snow as it met icy air.
Up to 18cm of snow were expected in the Sangre de Cristo mountains south of Denver, according to the National Weather Service.
As the storm heads east, up to 41cm of snow were likely in western Missouri and St Louis.
Areas to the east could get about 6cm with ice developing in Kansas, and Arkansas, and up to 4cm of snow in Washington, DC, before the system heads out to sea late on Sunday, AccuWeather said.
“The storm is expected to create havoc over the central part of the country, then extend eastward into the Mid-Atlantic states,” said Randy Adkins, an AccuWeather meteorologist.
The FlightAware.com flight tracking website reported 1,431 flight cancellations on Friday and 12,465 delays, with problems at snow-hit airports like Denver causing knock-on effects around the country.
While the storm will spare the heavily populated Northeast, it likely will disrupt air and auto travel from Kansas City to Indianapolis, and will bring the heaviest snowfall so far this winter to Cincinnati and the Ohio River Valley, said AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Walker.
St Louis emergency management officials are bracing for auto travel disruptions and possible power outages, but based on current forecasts, are not expecting to be overwhelmed, spokeswoman Tracy Panus said. — Reuters