E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSAs tornadoes ripped through the South, more than a foot of snow was dumped over parts of the Midwest, making for a post-Christmas travel nightmare. NBC's Mike Seidel reports.
A wicked winter storm was sweeping east across the United States Wednesday, creating a post-holiday travel nightmare with more than a foot of snow in some places and thousands of flights canceled or delayed.
"Blizzard warnings stretch for 730 continuous miles due to Winter Storm Euclid," The Weather Channel’s Tom Niziol reported.
The white-out came a day after a Christmas storm unleashed heavy snow, deadly winds and even some tornadoes on the nation’s midsection, killing at least three people.
As millions of Americans braced for snow, rain, ice or more twisters, nearly 2,000 flights had been canceled and 10,000 were delayed, many at Dallas/Fort Worth, Philadelphia International, and Cleveland's Hopkins International, according to the travel website FllightStats.com. American Airlines had to cancel 500 flights, while Delta scrapped 200.
Read more at The Weather Channel
The forecast called for heavy snow from Indiana to New York and by mid-afternoon it was piling up: The National Weather Service reported 14.5 inches in Marion, Ill.; 11.8 inches in Bloomfield, Ind.; 9 inches in Brookville, Ohio; 7 inches in Bardwell, Ky.; and Frostburg, Md. Up to 3 inches of rain had fallen in North and South Carolina.
The National Weather Service said Wednesday night that spotters had reported up to a foot of snow in some Pennsylvania counties. Forecasters predicted 10 to 12 inches of snow in western and central Massachusetts.
The system was expected to taper off into a mix of rain and snow closer to the coast, where little or no accumulation was expected in such cities as Philadelphia, Boston and New York.
The storm left freezing temperatures in its aftermath, and forecasters also said parts of the Southeast from Virginia to Florida would see severe thunderstorms.
After the storm socked little Albion, Ill., with 18 inches of snow, city worker Renee Galen’s SUV got stuck and she got to her office the only way she could.
On one of the busiest travel days of the year, bad weather has forced airlines to cancel or delay flights. NBC's Katy Tur reports.
"One of the city guys came by with a snowplow and I flagged him down and rode to work with him," Galen told NBC News.
"I had to get to work because today was the last day to file for city elections. Believe it or not, I’ve had three people come in to file."
In Indianapolis, seven inches of snow fell in three hours Wednesday morning, bringing post-Christmas shopping to a halt, the Indianapolis Star reported.
Stephen Canter, 44, ventured out before 8 a.m., and the roads were thick with snow when he headed back 30 minutes later.
"By the time I got home, the street was covered," he told the newspaper. "I don't remember snow like this since Valentine's Day of 2007."
Indiana State Police received 100 calls of crashes or cars sliding off roads before noon and warned motorists that if they got into trouble it could take a while to get them help, NBC affiliate WTHR.com reported.
Cars and several 18-wheelers were stuck in the ice along 1-70, and the snow fell faster than crews could clear the roads.
"The biggest problem is the blowing. We got some high winds and the roads are really beginning to drift bad," Ron Sharp with Wayne County Emergency Management told the station.
Parts of New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania are also forecast to get hit with more than a foot of snow, and New England could get up to a foot.
The blizzard warning in Ohio prompted United Airlines to cancel at least 60 percent of their flights at Cleveland Hopkins Airport beginning at noon on Wednesday, according to NBC affiliate WKYC.com. About 1,000 people spent the night on cots at Dallas/Fort Worth after their Tuesday night and Wednesday morning flights were scrapped.
Hundreds of flights delayed, canceled as holiday storms travel across country
With Rochester, N.Y., slated to get up to a foot of snow, hordes of worried residents descended on the hardware stores.
“Un-freaking-believable! We’ve sold 225 shovels since 9 o’clock this morning,” said Tom Green, owner of Mayer Paint and Hardware. “Rock salt – I couldn’t tell you how many thousands of pounds I’ve sold today. People are very concerned.”
Green noted that snowstorms are hardly rare in Rochester.
“But this is the first big one,” he said. “And it’s happening at Christmas.”
The weather system, which started over the weekend, wreaked havoc on Christmas. It knocked out power to tens of thousands of people and was blamed for at least five deaths.
In Enola, Ark., two toddlers were killed when a car lost control on an ice-slicked highway and spun into oncoming traffic, state police said.
Wind-toppled trees killed a pickup truck driver near Houston, Texas, and a 53-year-old man in north Louisiana. NBC affiliate KJRH reported that a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash on a snowy highway near Fairview, Okla.
Christmas Day tornadoes –- the preliminary count was at least 21, according to the Weather Channel -- battered Southern states. And Little Rock, Ark., didn’t just have a rare white Christmas –- it had its snowiest day ever, with nine inches on the ground.
The storms contributed to a 21-vehicle pile-up Tuesday that shut down a major highway in Oklahoma City, as well as tens of thousands of power outages. Emergency service provider MedStar told NBCDFW.com it responded to 71 crashes in the Fort Worth area between 5 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. Tuesday evening.
As it tracked east, authorities were taking the storm seriously.
In Indianapolis, Mayor Greg Ballard ordered "non-essential" workers to stay home and off roads. Cleveland asked businesses to send workers home by 1:30 p.m., NBC affiliate WKYC.com reported. Homeowners in coastal Long Island, ravaged by Superstorm Sandy in October, were told to take precautions to prevent flooding with seas expected to peak at 15 feet, NBCNewYork.com reported.
By the time it leaves the New England coast Friday, the storm will have left snow from coast to coast –- and there could be another wallop coming soon.
Weather Channel meteorologist Guy Walton said a weather pattern with the potential to become Winter Storm Freyr is poised to enter the West Coast on Wednesday and move through the Rockies on Thursday. It could then head for the lower Mississippi Valley, then the Southeast and hit the Northeast on Sunday.
The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More content from NBCNews.com:
Leave a Comment:
Thank you Heavenly Father for what I have, and thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ and His dying on the cross for my sins. I pray that our people turn to You in their time of need, and You would bless them with Your wisdom. Amen.
Blah Blah Blah?
And just a week or two ago the major headline was "This could be the warmest year ever!".
Haven't heard a peep about that line for at least 5 days!!
Live in Korea, I lived there for 4 years in Seoul. Hated the winter months, too dag gone cold for me.
Winter is about to really start in NH...we knew it had to happen...stay home (if you can), stay warm, stay safe. We are expecting 8 - 16 inches of heavy wet snow...yuck...that means power outages and my husband is probably not going to make it home tomorrow night.
Scooter tramp dont have life other than sitting in front her computer reading news stories kinda sad:(
like you?
After the storm socked little Albion, Ill., with 18 inches of snow, city worker Renne Galen’s SUV got stuck. So she flagged down a snowplow to get to City Hall, where she found she was the only person to make it in, the Associated Press reported.
What is she----an idiot?!!!!
Try reading the rest of the story. It was the last day to file candidacy papers for upcoming elections. 3 people came in with their candidacy papers. It is called a dedicated public employee. I'd rather employ one of her than 25 of you.
Cleveland asked businesses to send their employees home by 1:30...yeah right...imagine all of the 7-11s closing down...that'll be the day...lol...
I am always surprised when cities and states shut down when there are winter snowstorms in areas that normally have them. I live in the west, in what is considered to be high mountain desert. We hope for snow in the mountains for the ski resorts and for spring runoff for water for the year. Yes, it is a little work, and a little more difficult to get around, but our cities seem to be prepared with snow removal. Our children rarely miss school for snow days. There can be delays at the SLC International Airport when it is dangerous. Aren't snow storms a normal thing in the upper midwest and the East?
Awwww.... stranded at an airport on Christmas Day? What a shame. That's what you get for not staying home.
oooooh the weather outside is frightful...the fire is sooo delightful ..............
San Diego is soooo boring.....
I really do miss those gool ole' Iowa Christmases and winters......
NOOOOT!!!!!!!!!
People should have checked the weather in advance and cancelled out if they didn't like the idea of possibly becoming stranded on the return trip home.
lol, this isn't news. I've lived in the Northeast my whole life and guess what? It snows here in the winter. Shocking, I know.
That's not what the article is about.
Don't worry about it. Go watch TV.
Actually my post was a reply to someone elses post about how they can't believe the weather in the Northeast. It accidentally double posted.
THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!
Partial Intelligence?
suddenly Comment has become Chatroom.
Fak traveling thats what you get for being christmass steeple. Haha hehe hoho
Only retards fly on the holidays
Only obsessive-compulsives have to post three times in a row.
Over priced,tea pat downs,crowds,delays,just to come back ,,am people are fawking stupid,,lmao
The earth has warmed and cooled 8 times, and man was never on the earth.
Now I understand our release of greenhouse gases may spur on the warming, but a quick volacano eruption will even it out.
I'm betting that the release of CO2 in Alaska, coupled with a volcano eruption will slap us into an ice age - unless we continue to release greenhouse gases to even the score and give humanity a chance.
Send all of that snow north to Minnesota. We don't have anywhere near enough yet. All we have been getting is the cold side of these storms. We need the moisture and we can fill the Mississippi in the spring.
Well, at very least....kiss your cheap gas good-bye for a while....and will get even more expensive when the budget gets figured out.
I gotta figure expensive gas will cut down on CO2 emmissions.
Makes you wonder just how many of those cars out there are using "all season" tires.
Who's the dumb-ass at the weather channel who's idea it was to sart naming snow storms? Maybe if they took less coffee breaks during their "weather on the 8's" they'd have less time to think up stupid @!$%# like this and concentrate more on the weather. From what I've seen, according to the weather channel, there's no weather west of Texas.
There's weather. It's just good weather instead of bad weather.
god damn global warming those commies were right. I just shot my cow for releasing gas and causing global warming
THAT was stupid... now you're going to suffocate.
god: sorry I shot your girlfriend but I can introduce you to a sheep I have
No, uka, I don't do threesomes. She's all yours.
Global warming at its worst!
...... oh wait.....