Storms aren’t taking a holiday

End- of- Thanksgiving travel delays expected

As a strong winter storm that dumped a foot of snow around Minneapolis weakened and moved to the northeast on Thursday, a second storm pounded Northern California, setting up the likelihood of heavy snow spreading across the northern tier of the country as travelers head home at the end of the weekend.

The storm “will produce significant snow and blizzard conditions across the Northern Plains through Saturday before moving to the Great Lakes and Northeast Sunday and Monday,” the National Weather Service said.

Weather Channel forecasters warned of end- of- holiday travel delays from wet or snow- covered roads and flight delays because of low pressure moving into the East.

While the first system, which hit early this week, produced mighty gusts across much of the Northeast, it fell short in Manhattan, allowing organizers of the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to go on with its iconic balloons.

Forecasters said the fading storm was still likely to drop 3 to 6 inches of snow from northern New Hampshire into northern Maine and generate gusty winds in much of the Northeast.

Meanwhile, the second, powerful storm in the Northwest, which had been dubbed a “bomb cyclone,” forced the shutdown Wednesday of 100 miles of Interstate 5 between Yreka and Redding in Northern California because of cars spinning out, according to CalTrans.

Christina Williams of Portland, Oregon, told the Associated Press it took her and her son 17 hours to reach Redding, a trip that usually takes seven hours.

“There were spinouts everywhere. There were trucks that were abandoned,” she said. “Every time we stopped I was like: ‘ Is this it? Are we going to be here overnight?’ ”

A powerful storm that already pummeled California was expected to disrupt travelers in the Northeast and mid- Atlantic by Sunday.

CALTRANS VIA AP One hundred miles of Interstate 5 in Northern California were shut down on Wednesday.