Snow, Freezing Rain Moves Into Midwest

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May 11, 2002
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#1
There is a good amount of ice here in STL and it is spitting some snow, but I feel sorry for you Kansas folks.


A Kansas Highway Patrolman stops to help a wrecked motorist on 135 that hit a guard rail in Wichita, Kan., Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006. (AP Photo/Larry W. Smith)


Snow, Freezing Rain Moves Into Midwest
Thursday, November 30, 2006 9:48 PM EST
The Associated Press
By DANA FIELDS

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The first major snowstorm of the season blew across the Plains and Midwest on Thursday, grounding hundreds of flights, closing schools, glazing highways and threatening to dump up to a foot of snow on communities that had basked in balmy weather only days earlier.

The wintry weather spread across an area stretching from Texas and Oklahoma to Michigan, and a blizzard warning was posted in parts of Oklahoma.

Clay Ender, who works for a heating service company, struggled to get around in the 3 inches of snow that fell overnight in Lubbock, Texas. A trip across the city that usually takes 20 minutes stretched to an hour, he said.

"There were so many cars spinning out of control," he said. "They couldn't get any traction."

The system roared through the Northwest and Rockies earlier in the week. Coming on the heels of near-record high temperatures, it rolled through Kansas on Wednesday, coating tree limbs and power lines with half an inch of ice. By Thursday, the storm was moving northeast from Oklahoma on the way to Illinois. It could reach the Northeast sometime this weekend.

Sleet, snow and freezing rain forced the cancellation of 250 flights out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Some schools were closed. In the Texas Panhandle, roads were covered with ice and up to 7 inches of snow.

At Chicago's O'Hare Airport, at least 265 flights scheduled for Friday morning were canceled. By Thursday afternoon, all but two departing flights from Lambert Airport in St. Louis had been canceled for the rest of the day.

Northern Oklahoma expected to receive 8 to 12 inches of snow, with wind gusts up to 40 mph creating drifts up to 2 feet. Parts of Illinois prepared for 6 to 12 inches, and south-central Kansas awaited as much as 16 inches. Varying amounts were also forecast for Missouri and Arkansas.

An Oklahoma man was killed Thursday when his vehicle skidded out of control on an icy road and hit an oncoming tractor-trailer, police said.

In Tulsa, Okla., customers raided hardware and convenience stores for storm supplies because of 6 inches of snow in the forecast.

"It's shovels, ice melts and sleds, and forget the rest," said John Swinney, manager at Swinney's Hardware. "It's about the biggest one that's hit here in a long time."

In Springfield, Mo., freezing rain and sleet knocked out power to 15,000 customers, and the forecast called for snow and high winds.

"It will get worse before it gets better," said Ernest DeCamp, a spokesman for the city's utility.

In Chicago, 270 salt spreaders stood ready to hit the roads.

"It looks like it's going to get messy," said Tim Halbach, a meteorologist in the suburb of Romeoville. "There could be times where some areas see 2 inches of snow per hour."

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Associated Press writers Anabelle Garay in Dallas and Ken Miller in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Weather Underground: www.wunderground.com

National Weather Service: iwin.nws.noaa.gov

Intellicast: www.intellicast.com
 
May 11, 2002
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#8
Yeah, woke up this morning to more snow and almost everybody around he is without power besides me. Damn, I got lucky again. During all the bad storms this summer I never went without power. Everybody be safe out there, I know I am not moving from this house today.
 
Oct 30, 2006
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#11
Twiztid One said:
imma gonna get the four wheeler out ... this shit gonna be fun today , hehe .
i would get mine out but tha back tires are bald as fuck and last time i did that i hadda push it forever cause that shit got stuck down tha street...
 
May 11, 2002
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#14
Yeah, I have been w/o power for the last few days. Just been living at work pulling 16-20 hour days. This shit sucks.

Thousands Waiting for Power in Midwest
Sunday, December 3, 2006 6:03 AM EST
The Associated Press
By CARLA K. JOHNSON

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CHICAGO (AP) — Some crews repaired downed power lines, others swept debris from train tracks and National Guardsmen went door-to-door checking on residents after the Midwest's first big snowstorm of the season.

As temperatures fell below freezing, officials warned Saturday that some people could be without power for days.

The storm was blamed for at least 13 deaths as it spread ice and deep snow from Texas to Michigan and then blew through the Northeast late Friday and early Saturday. Schools and businesses were shuttered, and hundreds of travelers were stranded by canceled flights.

Nearly 600 Amtrak passengers in Illinois and Missouri were delayed up to 10 hours Friday and Saturday morning, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said. With many tracks still strewn with downed trees and power lines, passengers were eventually taken by bus to their destinations.

Truck driver David Huwe got his 18-wheeler and load of frozen food back on the road Saturday after being stuck for more than 12 hours at a rest stop near Princeton, Ill., on Interstate 80, which was blocked by scores of trucks and cars that slid off the icy highway.

"I was supposed to be (in California) Sunday night," Huwe said by cell phone Saturday morning. He had revised his arrival time and hoped he'd make it by Monday.

Red Cross volunteers at Decatur helped some of the stranded I-80 travelers by ordering 100 McDonald's hamburgers, which were airlifted by the National Guard.

Guardsmen in Missouri and Illinois went knocking on doors in the St. Louis and East St. Louis areas to make sure residents were surviving the cold.

Many areas got more than a foot of snow. Highways were mostly clear Saturday but still had icy spots.

Airlines were recovering from the widespread cancellations caused by the storm; delays at Lambert Airport in St. Louis were generally 15 minutes or less Saturday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. There were no measurable delays Saturday at Chicago's two major airports, said Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.

About 427,000 Ameren Corp. customers were without power in Missouri and Illinois on Saturday night. "It could be days before it's fully restored because it's really treacherous out there," Ameren spokeswoman Susan Gallagher said.

As the storm moved east, gusty wind blacked out more customers from Tennessee to New York. About 5,200 homes and businesses were still without power Saturday across upstate New York. About 1,500 waited for power in Michigan.

Two women were killed in Pennsylvania, one by a falling tree and another by a wind-blown section of roof, and another falling tree landed on a house and killed one person in New York, authorities said. Two men over the age of 60 died after shoveling snow in Wisconsin, and an 87-year-old woman died in the St. Louis areas in a house fire that started when an ice-laden tree limb fell on a power line, fire officials said.

Storm-related traffic deaths included two in Missouri, one in Kansas and one in Oklahoma. Near Paducah, Texas, a vehicle carrying high school girls' basketball players overturned on an icy highway, killing a 14-year-old player and injuring seven people.

In Illinois, a woman died after being struck by a snow plow that was backing up, and a 67-year-old man collapsed died of complications from heart disease after trimming tree limbs with a hand saw.
 
Jun 17, 2006
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#15
JLMACN said:
man shit was wild yesterday...

Watchin cars slide around..is wild..

I swear people dont know how to drive..

5000
god damn truth right there. its like some retards robbed the dmv got licenses some how. they were all over the sides of the roads.