DES MOINES, Iowa — A fierce storm left dangerous ice, heavy snow and vicious winds in its wake as it slogged eastward today, snarling traffic and closing hundreds of schools from the Upper Midwest through New England.
More than a foot of snow was expected in parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, where the National Weather Service warned of “extremely dangerous blizzard conditions” and near whiteout driving conditions. Wind gusts of up to 50 mph could build snow drifts between 8 and 15 feet tall. Parts of New England also girded themselves for bone-chilling wind gusts and snow accumulations of up to a foot.
The storm was blamed for at least 12 deaths, most in traffic accidents.
“It’s horrible out there,” said Todd Lane, an assistant manager of a Quik Trip convenience store in Des Moines, where about 6 inches of new snow was reported overnight. Plow drivers came into the store all night seeking energy drinks and coffee to keep them alert.
Motorists got stuck on drift-blocked highways all over Iowa. State troopers were dispatched with National Guard soldiers in Humvees.
“They’re not even plowing the streets anymore because the wind will just blow it back down and cover it,” said Dan Hansen, a carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in Iowa City. He was bundled up in hand and feet warmers, snow boots and a parka to brave his route. “It’ll get worse before it gets better.”
High winds knocked down the two-story Christmas tree that, until this morning, stood in the center of downtown Champaign, Ill.
With classes canceled and more than a foot of snow on the ground, University of Wisconsin-Madison students planned to try again to hold the world’s largest snowball fight today. An attempt in January to break the record — 3,700 people who hurled snowballs at Michigan Technological University in 2006, according to the Guinness Book of World Records — fell far short.
The storm felt like a rude surprise after an unseasonably warm and dry November in parts of the region. The massive system is the first major blast of winter weather for many parts of the Midwest.
“I’ve been dreading this day,” said Kim Brust, shoveling the sidewalk in front of his Minneapolis home before sunrise today. “I was starting to enjoy the global warming.”
Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, and only a few were scheduled at Des Moines International Airport. Travelers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport were experiencing long delays.
Blizzard warnings also covered eastern Nebraska, where overnight snowfall reports of 12 inches were common, and parts of Kansas, Illinois and Minnesota. Snow also fell in western and central Michigan. Thousands of power outages were reported in Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, New York and New Jersey.
By the time the storm moves off the Maine coast Thursday night, it may have affected as much as two-thirds of the country, said Jim Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines.
“It’s a monster of a storm,” Lee said.
In northern New York, as much as a foot of snow was expected to accumulate Wednesday and more than 3 feet was expected by the week’s end near the Great Lakes. Maine and New Hampshire could see snow accumulations of 6 to 10 inches capped off by rain and sleet in the evening.
Gavin Graham, 8, of Concord, N.H., spent two hours sledding in the morning and planned to head out again in the afternoon.
“It was really good sledding. The snow was puffy, and that was really good because we had little jumps already made,” he said. “It was awesome having the day off from school.”
In the West, pounded by the storm’s rain and snow earlier this week, bitter wind chills as low as 40 below swept across portions of southern Montana. The biting winds also were moving across Wyoming and South Dakota, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm drenched California with rain, blanketed the mountain West with snow and brought 100 mph winds to New Mexico earlier this week. More than 20 inches of snow fell over Flagstaff, Ariz. — more than four times the record of 5 inches set in 1956. Heavy rain also hit some parts of the South, and more than 4 inches was reported in spots in New Orleans on Tuesday.
At least 12 deaths were blamed on the weather, including an Arizona hunter who was killed Monday night when a large pine tree snapped and crushed him as he slept in a tent. The driver of a sport utility vehicle that plunged 90 feet off an icy road into the Texas Panhandle’s Palo Duro Canyon also died.
Three fatal accidents were reported along slippery roads in Missouri, and a Minnesota driver who braked to avoid a stalled vehicle and wound up crashing down an embankment. In Kentucky, a woman died today after her car hydroplaned and struck a tree. In New York, a plow truck operator died in a collision with a train.
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