Heavy Snow, Rain Make Holiday Travel Difficult

Heavy snow Wednesday brought a white Thanksgiving to Washington state, closing roads and schools with up to 20 inches of snow while freezing rain across southern New England and the Midwest made roads treacherous for holiday travelers.

Arctic cold froze the Northwest and northern Plains for the 10th straight day, shattering records in at least 12 cities. Since the weekend, bad weather has been blamed for 28 deaths.

A blizzard struck Jackson Hole, Wyo., where snow combined with 86-m.p.h. winds Wednesday afternoon. Heavy rain caused mud slides in Ohio and sent streams rushing over their banks in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Arkansas.

Torrential rains created mud slides in parts of Belmont County, Ohio, Wednesday, prompting Gov. Richard F. Celeste to declare an emergency, freeing up National Guard helicopters to aid evacuations if necessary. No evacuations were reported.

Waves of mud piled as high as 11 feet blocked a 10-mile stretch of Ohio Route 7 along the Ohio River, stranding two truckers in the muck but causing no injuries.

Snow fell from Washington state to western Montana, dropping up to 20 inches on Whidbey Island, 25 miles northwest of Seattle. A thick quilt of drifting snow allowed many public school students to begin the Thanksgiving holiday a day early.

“The weather in central Washington, in terms of traffic conditions, is the worst it has been for several years,” state Department of Transportation spokesman Jack Fischer said. “Visibility is virtually zero.”

Cars plowed through eight inches of snow on Seattle streets. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport reported 17.4 inches have fallen this month, a record for November snowfall. Spokane had 14 inches.

Frigid arctic air hovered over the Northwest and northern Plains. The mercury dropped to 23 below at International Falls, Minn., one degree below the 1958 record. It was 17 below in Billings, Mont., breaking a record for the sixth straight day.

Freezing rain and sleet glazed roads across southern New England and Kansas, Oklahoma and most of Missouri, making holiday travel hazardous and prompting travelers’ advisories.

In West Virginia’s northern panhandle, which got more than three inches of rain in 18 hours ending early Wednesday, about 700 people were forced from their homes as Wheeling Creek rose to more than six feet above flood stage.

A tornado touched down just north of Jacks Creek, Tenn., destroying a house and downing trees and power lines, while storms dumped more than seven inches of rain in parts of Arkansas, flooding streets and closing schools.

In Nashville, five floors of the back wall of a downtown medical office building gave way during a thunderstorm early Wednesday evening.