As they emerge from the food-induced holiday coma and head toward airports and highways, some Americans will have to face a powerful storm on their way home that threatens to disrupt post-Thanksgiving travel plans.
Some air travelers are already facing problems, with more than 1,800 flights canceled in the U.S. as of Saturday, according to FlightAware data, mostly due to winter weather in the Midwest.
Major air traffic disruptions in Chicago
Most disruptions are in the Windy City (Chicago), where constant snowfall is occurring. According to FlightAware, more than 1,100 flights to and from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport have been canceled, and more than 800 have been delayed. About 12.7 centimeters of snow (five inches) have fallen at the airport, and incoming flights are experiencing delays of up to five hours.
Storm expansion and Arctic cold
The storm that moved through the Rockies on Friday developed into a full-fledged system stretching across the country, placing around 49 million people in the North under winter weather alerts. The storm has the potential to bring heavy rain and several centimeters of snow across more than 1,600 kilometers of the country this weekend.
The storm is opening the door to a new, colder surge of icy Arctic air that will drop temperatures for millions just before the calendar turns to December.
Fatal consequences
Pre-holiday weather has already proven deadly in Minnesota. A 69-year-old man was killed after a snow-covered tree, toppled by strong winds, crushed him on Wednesday morning in Alden Township, about 290 km northeast of Minneapolis, CNN reported, citing the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office.
This post-Thanksgiving storm could bring similar dangers.
Storm movement
The storm pushed into the Pacific Northwest on Thursday evening, and on Friday moved through the Rockies.
The storm center early Saturday morning shifted out of the Plains and is expected to intensify throughout the day as it spreads east across the Midwest.
It will bring snow, rain, and even an icy mix across much of the central part of the country. Rain will fall on the southern side of the storm, but snow is forecast on the northern side, targeting Nebraska and Kansas, then north through the Midwest. Some areas near the transition zone between mostly snow and mostly rain will face an icy mix for a time. Winds will also strengthen as the storm intensifies.
Areas east of the Mississippi River will have to deal with the storm on Sunday — snow for the Great Lakes and rain stretching through the South — while the central part of the country will be hit by Arctic air trailing behind the storm.
The storm will move off the East Coast early Monday.
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Source: CNN Foto: NBC 5