Blizzard heads for Midwest, raising fears of more flooding
A storm bringing heavy snowfall and strong winds was churning across the US Plains and Midwest on Thursday, a day after a blizzard in the Rocky Mountains grounded flights, caused power outages and raised fears of further Midwest flooding after a deluge in March.
Warm spring temperatures on Tuesday, upwards of 26°C in Denver, gave way to frigid -6°C, heavy snow, gale-force winds and life-threatening conditions on Thursday, the national weather service said.
David Roth, a meteorologist with the weather service, said that while the Rockies were expected to receive constant precipitation until Saturday, the centre of low pressure of the blizzard was spinning into the US Plains and Midwest.
Roth said the storm system will turn northeast into Minnesota late on Thursday and then slowly move into Lake Superior by Friday night.
Heavy snow with blizzard conditions was expected through Thursday night in southeastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota.
Despite the severe weather, crew members at Denver International Airport worked through the night to remove snow from runways, and only about 180 flights were cancelled on Thursday morning, down from more than 700 a day earlier, according to airport officials.
Residents throughout the north-central US could expect downed trees, widespread power outages, road closures and treacherous driving through Friday, the weather service said.
More than 10,000 homes and businesses were without power in South Dakota and about another 10,000 in Minnesota early on Thursday.
Officials in Colorado ordered state government offices in 54 counties to be closed. Government offices in Denver were closed on Wednesday due to weather conditions.
Brian Hurley, another meteorologist with the weather service, had previously described the powerful blizzard as a “bomb cyclone”, the second one to hit the area in two months. “This is like a slow-moving snowstorm inside a hurricane,” Hurley said, adding that wind gusts were upwards of 160km/h in eastern Colorado.
The weather system is expected to weaken and move to the Great Lakes area on Friday, bringing rain and snow to that region.
“All that snow is going to melt and it’ll all soon flow into the Missouri River basin,” Hurley said.