Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Travel hassles teem courtesy of the weather
Snow, wind, rain confound post-holiday journeys home
Wintry, rainy weather bedeviled Thanksgiving weekend travelers across the United States on Saturday as a powerful and dangerous storm dumped snow in parts of California and the northern Midwest, and inundated other areas with rain.
Authorities found the bodies of two young children, including a 5-year-old boy, in central Arizona after a vehicle was swept away while attempting to cross a runoff-swollen creek. A third child was missing. A storm-related death also was reported in South Dakota.
The National Weather Service said the storm system was expected to drop 6-12 inches of snow from the northern Plains states into Minnesota, Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
Blizzard conditions early Saturday were already buffeting the High Plains. The city of Duluth, Minn., issued a “no travel advisory” beginning at noon Saturday because of a snowstorm that it called “historic.”
Duluth officials asked the public to be patient as plows clear roadways and recommended that drivers stay off the roads to prevent accidents and to help authorities be able to respond more quickly to emergencies.
Farther south, rain and thunderstorms pushed through along and ahead of a cold front, producing heavy rainfall Saturday in parts of the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys.
Forecasters said a new storm was expected to produce several feet of mountain snow, rain and gusty winds in California through the weekend. Another system is forecast to develop in the mid-Atlantic today, moving as a nor’easter into Monday.
Airlines at O’Hare International and Midway International airports in Chicago reported average delays of 15 minutes as a winter storm in the Midwest produced heavy snow, ice and gusty winds.
The airlines said they had canceled 27 flights at O’Hare and two at Midway as people scrambled to get home on the year’s busiest travel weekend.
At Denver International Airport, 100 flights were canceled Saturday because of high winds.
The airlines expect today “to be the busiest travel day of the Thanksgiving period at both O’Hare and Midway,” said Karen Pride, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation. “Everybody thinks the day before Thanksgiving is the busiest; it is not.”
Authorities in the western states were still grappling Saturday with the aftermath of heavy rains and snow that fell ahead of the long holiday weekend.
High winds and ice made travel almost impossible in some places. A 100-mile section of Interstate 80 in Nebraska and Wyoming closed Saturday morning because of winds and blowing snow. Several other roads and highways in those states also were closed. Some areas of Wyoming experienced whiteout conditions.
The National Weather Service in Wyoming reported 4 inches of snow fell in Cheyenne from 7 p.m. Friday through 10 a.m. Saturday “that has been blown all over kingdom come by our winds,” said meteorologist Andrew Lyons.
That was added to a foot of snow that fell before Thanksgiving.
Wind gusts up to 50 mph created ground-level blizzards and below-zero wind chills in some areas. A wind gust of 77 mph was reported in the mountains between Cheyenne and Laramie, Lyons said.
All roads in and out of Casper were closed Saturday morning, including the entire 300-mile stretch of Interstate 25 in Wyoming.
Travel was also difficult in Colorado. Northeastern Colorado roads were closed because of strong winds, blowing and drifting snow, and poor visibility.
In northern Montana, more than a foot of fresh snow and strong wind gusts were expected to combine to create ground-blizzard conditions along the Rocky Mountain front.
Meteorologist Christian Cassel told the Great Falls Tribune that people could be stuck in their homes for at least a day because of the near-zero visibility.
FATAL FLOODING
In Arizona, the bodies of two children were found Saturday, and searchers were still looking for a third child who disappeared after a military-style truck they were in was swept away while the driver attempted to cross a flooded creek.
Gila County sheriff’s office Lt. Virgil Dodd said the first body found was that of a 5-year-old boy. The second child’s age and sex weren’t provided in a statement released by the sheriff’s office.
Dodd said the 5-year-old boy’s body was found about 3 miles downstream from the crossing, which had been closed hours before the truck driver ignored barricades and warning signs and tried to cross it Friday.
Drivers “really need to not ignore that. It’s very dangerous. It’s very hazardous,” Dodd said. “In this case, this horrible and tragic incident … that’s what happens when you ignore these types of signs.”
The sheriff’s office said emergency personnel and law enforcement helicopters Friday rescued two adults and two children who were in the military-style truck that was swept downstream in Tonto Creek near the small community of Tonto Basin, which is about 52 miles northeast of Phoenix.
Sheriff’s officials previously had said a total of six people, including four children, were rescued Friday at locations along the creek.
The people in the truck didn’t live locally, Dodd said, and he didn’t know the relationships among the adults and the children.
“We have no information as to why they were trying to cross the creek,” Dodd said. “We think everybody was in the cab at the time.”
Rescue teams from multiple agencies participated in the search, and authorities hauled in a bulldozer to pull the truck from the creek bed Saturday.
“Searchers found the truck about 1,000 yards downstream from the crossing Friday night,” Dodd said. “There was nobody in the truck.”
Searchers scoured heavy brush, and traversed slippery mud along the creek where the water was frigid water from snowmelt. Despite such conditions, officials said they remained hopeful of finding the third child.
Sheriff’s Deputy Phil Smith said the creek flows only during storm runoff.
A National Weather Service meteorologist said the agency issued a flood warning for the region that includes the Tonto Basin area Friday morning based on data from an upstream flooding gauge.
Meteorologist Sean Benedict in Phoenix estimated that up to 2 inches of rain fell in the area, with some of the runoff coming from snow that fell on nearby peaks.
The region got up to 4 inches of rain about a week before, Benedict said. “So the grounds were already pretty wet and that probably helped with the runoff.”
NORTHEAST BRACES
A winter storm that formed in the Northwest last week is predicted to move into the Northeast today
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch through 7 a.m. Tuesday for parts of the New York region.
Forecasters expect snow to start early today, then to change to a wintry mix in the afternoon and through the night before changing back to snow Monday morning.
Snow accumulations of 6-12 inches are expected today through Monday in the lower Hudson Valley, the interior of the Northeast, New Jersey and southern Connecticut, the weather service said.
Up to 4 inches of snow is expected in New York City and Long Island beginning this morning. Forecasters said Boston could get 6-8 inches of snow, and Newburyport, Mass., could get 8-12 inches.
Jim Hayes, a forecaster with the weather service, said Boston was squarely in the storm’s path, threatening a “ripple effect” of travel delays.
“When you have problems in Boston,” he said, “you can have problems in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.”
Officials warned that the expected mixed precipitation would make driving difficult and dangerous this afternoon and into Monday night. Coastal
areas along New York, New Jersey and southwest Connecticut could see some minor flooding during high tide in the evening.
United Airlines announced waivers allowing customers flying in the region today or Monday to reschedule their
trips for free. Delta issued waivers for 22 cities in the Northeast today and Monday, including Albany, N.Y., Boston and New York. American Airlines waived change fees for passengers traveling today and Monday through New York area hubs, Boston and
Philadelphia.