Lincoln Tice rides his bike on a snowy street doing errends in Madison, Wisconsin, December 9. Heavy snow blanketed much of the central United States Thursday after a massive winter storm left residents battling frigid temperatures and icy roads. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Andy Manis)
CHICAGO (AFP) – Heavy snow blanketed much of the central United States Thursday after a massive winter storm left residents battling frigid temperatures and icy roads.
Some parts of Michigan and Ohio were expected to get as much as several more feet (up to a meter) of snow as the system which has battered the country since Sunday made its way northwards up into Canada.
“This one came roaring through, it came in off the west coast, started really getting put together in Utah and then just blasted across the plains,” said Pat Slattery, a spokesman for the National Weather Service.
“As the system moves through, back behind it all this Arctic air came pouring south out of Canada and sweeping across the plains.”
High winds were creating blizzard-like conditions even in areas where the snow had stopped falling by pulling snow drifts up off the ground, Slattery told AFP.
Those winds were also adding a bitter bite to the already freezing winter air, complicating efforts to dig out from under the heavy snow.
Wind chills were forecast to range from -15 to -30 Fahrenheit (-26 to -34 Celsius) from Wyoming to Wisconsin and even Iowa and Missouri for the next few days. (more…)
