Blizzard Warnings Up in Midwest : ‘Potent’ Fast-Moving Storm Sends Wind Chills to 60 Below

A “very potent” storm packing 60 m.p.h. wind gusts that made it feel like 60 below zero blasted the upper Midwest today, triggering blizzard warnings in the Dakotas and Minnesota where National Guardsmen patrolled snow-choked roads to rescue marooned motorists.

The fast-moving storm from central Canada pushed the mercury to 11 degrees below zero at Warroad, Minn., as it headed toward the central Plains and Ohio Valley.

Winds gusted to 50 m.p.h. in Illinois at Moline and Peoria, and across the upper Midwest the National Weather Service reported wind chills down to 60 degrees below zero.

10 Inches Overnight

Up to 10 inches of snow accumulated during the night over northern Upper Michigan on the shore of Lake Superior and snow fell from the Great Lakes to the northern two-thirds of the Appalachians.

Travelers’ advisories warning of strong wind and snow were posted over parts of the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, western New York state and West Virginia.

The storm came on the heels of a bone-numbing cold snap that was blamed for at least 174 deaths in 23 states and the District of Columbia in the last week.

The storm was expected to bring freezing temperatures back to Florida by Saturday, said Jack Hales of the National Severe Storms Forecast Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Temperature Dives

“It is a very potent winter storm with very strong winds and rapidly falling temperatures,” Hales said.

“We were out busting drifts open all night,” said Marquette County, Mich., Sheriff’s Deputy Bruce Belisle. “They weren’t much, only three or four feet high, but everything outside Marquette is closed.”

Many vehicles were in the ditches along the Indiana Toll Road, authorities said. Delaware County officials said they could not keep roads clear because of blowing and drifting snow and Porter County officials ordered snow plows off the roads because of poor visibility.

“Visibility is zero,” said a state police dispatcher at Lowell, Ind. “I can’t see the road and it’s only 100 feet away.”

In eastern Iowa, classes in the Davenport area were canceled, and several roads were closed because of drifting snow. Authorities in the Fairfield area said a “white out” of swirling snow reduced visibility practically to zero and several cars spun off into ditches.