Deadly winter storm heads for East Coast
POSTED: 8:41 a.m. EST, February 25, 2007
Story Highlights• Seven traffic deaths blamed on storm in Wisconsin
• Storm heads for East Coast; storm warnings in effect
• Weather closes I-70 in Colorado, Kansas; I-80 in Nebraska
• Up to two feet of snow in some parts of Wisconsin
Adjust font size:
DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- A huge winter storm barreled toward the East Coast on Sunday after dumping more than a foot of snow on the Upper Midwest, causing seven traffic deaths in Wisconsin and closing major highways in the Plains.
Parts of Wisconsin could get 18 to 24 inches of snow before the storm passes, said Tom Zajdel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan, Wisconsin. Heavy snow was also forecast for Michigan.
As the storm moved northeast, it was expected to bring heavy precipitation to much of the East.
Freezing rain was forecast for the Ohio Valley and into New England, with showers and thunderstorms expected mainly east of the Appalachians. Severe weather was possible along the Southeast coast.
The storm knocked out power to more than 100,000 customers, mostly in Iowa, where freezing rain coated trees and power lines. Outages were also reported in Oklahoma, Nebraska and Ohio. (Watch Saturday's icy mess in Iowa )
"The snow is so wet it's sticking to power poles and power lines," said Bill Taylor of the National Weather Service office in North Platte, Nebraska.
Snow, sleet and freezing rain caused hundreds of flights to be canceled or delayed Saturday in Chicago, Minneapolis and Milwaukee, while whiteouts occurred in Colorado and Kansas.
Interstate 70, a major cross-country route, was closed for about 400 miles in both directions from just east of Denver to Salina, Kansas, because of blowing snow and slippery pavement.
Between Denver and the beginning of the highway closure, about 35 cars collided in a pileup on an icy section of I-70. No major injuries were reported.
The weather service reported wind gusts of 68 mph in the Denver area. In Kansas, winds whipped about 3 inches of snowfall into 7-foot drifts.
A number of other highways were closed in Wyoming and Nebraska. But many roads reopened later Saturday, including most of Interstate 80 in Nebraska. More than 270 miles there had been closed.
The National Weather Service posted blizzard and winter storm warnings for parts of Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Between 15 inches to 18 inches of snow had fallen between Winona, Minnesota, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, by Saturday evening, according to the weather service.
As conditions worsened in Winona County, deputies turned to four-wheel drive vehicles. The blinding snow caused around 50 cars to spin out or go into the ditch, authorities said.
"We're having trouble getting to some of the cars," Sheriff David Brand said. "We couldn't travel very fast because we couldn't see to get to them. A lot of cars couldn't see or they're having to stop to see the roadways."
The massive system was also responsible for severe storms in the South that swept cars off roads, crumpled businesses and sent mobile homes airborne. Tornadoes were reported in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana
