Blizzard Hits North Dakota as South Basks

A blizzard howled across North Dakota on Saturday, dropping wind-chill temperatures to minus 40 degrees, piling up five-foot drifts and sending police on snowmobile medical missions.

Meanwhile, temperatures soared to record highs for the third straight day over parts of the Southeast.

The North Dakota blizzard and other snowstorms in eastern Montana and northwest Minnesota dropped wind-chill factors to minus 10 to 40 degrees. Temperatures out of the wind ranged from single-digit figures to the teens and 20s.

Doctors, Nurses Aided

“It’s really bad,” Minot, N.D., Police Chief Carroll Erichson said. “Vehicle transportation has come to a stop. We are using snowmobiles to deliver medicine and to haul doctors and nurses to the hospital.”

The blizzard reduced visibility to 150 feet and pushed a foot of snow into drifts up to five feet deep in Minot, Erichson said. Schools closed Friday.

In parts of North Dakota, visibility was reduced to zero.

Snow was also falling Saturday across the northern and central Rockies, where up to 10 inches of snow were expected in the mountains and two to four inches in the valleys.

Storm warnings were issued for lower Minnesota, and travelers’ advisories were posted during the day for areas of Montana, South Dakota, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Wyoming.

Gale warnings were posted for Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron as winds gusting to 65 m.p.h. were reported in Minneapolis, other parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota.

A tugboat pulling a 600-foot freighter called the Coast Guard for help after developing engine trouble while struggling with 15-to 20-foot waves and 40-knot winds in Lake Superior, Guard spokesman Richard Wehn said.

Record Highs in Southeast

By contrast, temperatures in the Southeast included 84 at Beaufort, S.C.; 79 at Bristol, Tenn.; 81 at Cape Hatteras, N.C.; 85 at Charleston, S.C.; 79 at Chattanooga, Tenn.; 81 at Knoxville, Tenn.; 85 at Montgomery, Ala., and 84 at Wilmington, N.C. The highs at Cape Hatteras, Knoxville and Wilmington erased records on the books since 1881.

Elsewhere, storms and thunderstorms rumbled from southeast Texas into the Mississippi Valley, the lower Ohio Valley and the western Great Lakes. A tornado downed power lines in Polk County, Tex. Thunderstorms toppled trees and power lines in Sabine Parish, La., and in parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin.