Storm over; wind chill remains

Published 9:45 am Friday, January 8, 2010

There’s a saying about Minnesota. Residents don’t need to travel anywhere because the weather from other places comes here.

Today’s cold-weather blast is from the Canadian Arctic. This one is visiting more than Minnesota, as Arctic weather typically does in January. It is spread across the Midwest.

Interstate 90 closed from Fairmont westward and all through South Dakota on Thursday morning. It closed from Albert Lea westward in the afternoon and remained closed as of press time this morning. It is illegal to drive on closed roads.

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Schools across the area were closed or delayed today, too. Officials in the United South Central School District in Wells on Thursday night decided to delay classes by two hours. On Friday morning, they opted to cancel classes altogether.

Blue Earth Area Schools also closed. Looking at closures from around the area, people could tell the winter storm hit harder to the west. Places such as Madelia and Fairmont closed, too.

Albert Lea was to be two hours late but around 8 a.m. the message went out that school would be closed today.

That same routine happened in many districts. Lake Mills, Northwood-Kensett, Alden-Conger, Glenville-Emmons all eventually canceled.

It is estimated about 3 1/2 inches fell in Albert Lea during the storm, but with drifting many places looked deeper than that. Worthington received about 6.1 inches. Jackson had 5 inches. Owatonna had about 2 1/2 inches. Winona had 2 inches. Austin had 3 1/2 inches. Preston had 2.2 inches. Lake Mills, Iowa, had about 3 inches. The Twin Cities had 1 3/4 inches. Snowfall totals are provided by the National Weather Service.

Gravel roads in the region were said to be nearly impossible to drive on today, making rural bus driving difficult. Paved roads had plenty of black ice, too.

Albert Lea and much of the region remained in a wind chill warning on Friday morning. The National Weather Service said wind chills could reach 30 or 40 below this morning in west central and south central Minnesota. The warning was in effect until noon.

Tonight the mercury is expected to plummet to 18 below. The forecast in Albert Lea for Saturday is sunny and cold, with a high of 3 degrees, according to KIMT. However, Sunday has a forecast high of 18 degrees.

Across the Midwest

A broad snowstorm pushed eastward this morning, dumping a light coating of snow in the Northeast, making the morning rush tricky and closing or delaying the opening of some schools, all part of a powerful cold front engulfing much of the nation.

The National Weather Service said that the edge of the storm, with light snow flurries, reached the Philadelphia area overnight and that 1 to 2 inches of snow were likely there and in the New York City metropolitan area. The weather service warned commuters to be careful trekking to work.

“People ought to take it easy when they get out on the road this morning,” weather service meteorologist Bill Goodman said early today.

Much of Pennsylvania woke up to at least a coating of snow today morning, with a total of 5 to 7 inches expected across the western part of the state.

Many schools across the Pennsylvania delayed opening and a few closed in response to the winter weather. Nearly 20 school districts in New Jersey, where a light dusting of snow fell Friday, delayed opening.

In Ohio, where icy cold winds and snow on Thursday contributed to occasionally treacherous road conditions, the weather service warned of a possible lake effect: cold arctic air blowing over open bodies of water, picking up moisture and carrying it inland, creating narrow bands of heavy snow. It said a winter storm warning was in effect until Saturday morning.

The Cincinnati and Columbus school districts canceled Friday classes.

Light snow began falling across Ohio on Thursday morning, gradually intensified throughout the day and continued through the night. Up to 6 inches were expected Friday, more in the northern sections of the state.

As Thursday’s snowfall blanketed the Midwest, a tractor-trailer spun out of control on a snow-slick road in Ohio, killing four people.

The tractor-trailer jackknifed on Interstate 70, crossed the highway median and swerved into oncoming traffic, colliding with a small bus transporting adult disabled passengers, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

Three passengers on the bus were killed, as was its driver. Six other passengers of the bus, which was carrying 11 people, were injured, as was the driver of the commercial truck, Sgt. Raymond Durant said.

Snowfall was heaviest in Minnesota and parts of South Dakota, where blowing winds piled up drifts too big for snowplow drivers to clear. In Illinois, six snowplows were involved in accidents, most when other vehicles rear-ended them. By Friday morning, parts of Wisconsin could see up to 12 inches of snow.

Snowflakes fell as far south as Alabama and Georgia.

Atlanta woke to an unusual glaze of ice on the roads Friday after light snow overnight melted and refroze. Authorities urged motorists to stay home in much of Georgia, at least until daylight so they could see ice patches.

Drivers still collided. A 50-year-old woman in the far northern suburb of Acworth died after skidding off a road late Thursday. About 27 vehicles were involved in a pre-dawn crash Friday at the junction of two interstates near the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and three motorists were taken to hospitals.

Frostbite-inducing temperatures gripped much of the nation, and schools in at least 10 states were closed, as were roads and government offices.

Nowhere was it colder than in Bismarck, N.D., where wind chills hit a frighteningly frigid 52 below zero and the temperature reached 14 below.

While North Dakotans get plenty of practice with bundling up, folks in other parts of the country were still learning the basics.

With temperatures on the Texas-Mexico border expected to near freezing Thursday night, officials in Laredo issued an advisory telling residents to “dress warmly and stay dry.”