Wintry weather caused a few travel headaches
Wintry weather caused a few travel headaches:- While much of the nation enjoyed tranquil conditions Monday, wintry weather caused some travel trouble across the nation’s northern tier for folks returning home from holiday celebrations.
A blizzard buried the northern Plains under as much as 16 inches of snow, which was blown around by winds of up to 50 mph. Nearly every highway across North Dakota and the western half of South Dakota was shut down Monday, the National Weather Service said.
Heading home after #Christmas today? See if #weather may delay your travel plans. https://t.co/ZO31O5O3vX pic.twitter.com/57Amdhox4E
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) December 26, 2016
The North Dakota Highway Patrol warned that motorists who venture out in no-travel advisory areas travel at their own risk and “may become stranded, and emergency responders may not be able to reach them safely,” the Associated Press said.
The storm also has caused widespread power outages in the Dakotas, Nebraska and western Iowa, AP reported.
The Minot (N.D.) International Airport closed Monday due to low visibility and will remain closed until early Wednesday, the Minot Daily News said.
Though the worst of the snow fell to the west of Minneapolis, dozens of flights were delayed Monday at the city’s airport, FlightAware said.
Travel hazards will persist across the region into Tuesday, despite the storm winding down, AccuWeather said.
This was the same storm that walloped portions of the western U.S. with snow, rain and wind over the Christmas weekend. Some of the most notable weather reports were from Almo, Utah, which picked up two feet of snow, and Red River, N.M., which recorded a 105-mph wind gust, the weather service said.
Elsewhere, portions of New England and New York State saw freezing rain Monday, which was forecast to persist into early Tuesday, the weather service said. Snow was likely in Maine and New Hampshire early Tuesday.
Temperatures were mild enough for rain across portions of the central and eastern U.S. on Monday. Rain and thunderstorms fell along and ahead of a cold front from eastern Texas, the Tennessee/Ohio Valleys and the Northeast on Monday, the weather service said. Flash flooding was reported Monday afternoon in portions of Arkansas and Missouri because of the heavy rain.
Unusually mild weather continued in the South on Monday: 70 million people saw temperatures of at least 65 degrees, the Weather Channel said.
In the western U.S., a new storm Tuesday will spread snow eastward into interior Washington and Oregon and the northern Rockies, the weather service said. Heavy snow is forecast to pound the Cascades. Winter storm watches are in effect for portions of Washington, Oregon, northern Idaho and western Montana.
Temperatures will be above average across most of the central, eastern and southern U.S. on Tuesday. The East Coast will be particularly warm. Afternoon high temperatures are forecast to be 10 to 25 degrees above average, the weather service reported.
So far this month, a few locations in Florida, including Miami, are seeing their warmest December on record.
An icy mix could cause slick roads from northeast Pennsylvania to New York and New England today: https://t.co/pv6ltRtoRF pic.twitter.com/IyR7r8qost
— AccuWeather (@breakingweather) December 26, 2016
Source:- http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2016/12/26/winter-weather-travel-headaches/95848480/
