Foot of Snow Snarls Traffic in Michigan

A blinding storm whipped by icy Canadian winds brought nearly a foot of snow Wednesday to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, slowing traffic to a crawl and building huge roadside drifts.

National Weather Service forecasters said that more than 11 inches of snow had fallen at Marquette, Mich., and they warned that the storm could bring an additional 2 feet of snow to the region.

Police in the Marquette area reported that visibility generally was less than a quarter of a mile and was reduced to near zero at times as gusty winds blowing across the Great Lakes from Canada whipped the snow into drifts.

Storm Nearly Stationary

The weather service said the storm was dropping snow on most of Upper Michigan and appeared to be nearly stationary.

Wind-whipped snow clogged roads and temperatures plummeted to dangerous levels across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin on Wednesday, as New England and New York City’s suburbs dug out from a surprise storm that helped snap a cold wave.

Streets in Duluth, Minn., were clogged with 8 inches of snow, and the suburbs of Proctor, Cloquet and Carlton all reported 10 inches of snow, the weather service said.

Wisconsin’s northern rim reported 6 inches of snow, and parts of northeastern North Dakota received 8 inches.

Winds gusted to 40 m.p.h. across the northern half of Minnesota, dropping temperatures by 20 degrees within hours, weather forecaster Byron Paulson said. He said wind-chill readings--measuring the effect of cold air and wind on unprotected skin--dropped to 15 to 35 degrees below zero across much of the state.

Highway 200 in northwest Wisconsin was closed to traffic much of Wednesday morning because of blowing, drifting snow. Police said other roads in the area and in northern Minnesota were snow-packed and driving conditions were poor.

Forecasters said the storm would drop temperatures to well below zero overnight in northern areas and into the single-digit range at Minneapolis-St. Paul and St. Cloud, Minn., and in Green Bay, Wis.

Up to 8 inches of snow had fallen in New Hampshire’s White Mountains and 9 inches fell in Cheshire, Mass., in the Berkshire Mountains. Islip, N.Y., one of New York City’s bedroom suburbs on Long Island, also had 9 inches of snow.

The Northeast snows snapped a cold wave that began Sunday and was blamed for seven deaths.

Elsewhere, record low temperatures were reported in the neighboring cities of Ft. Lauderdale and Hollywood, Fla. A 43-degree reading at Ft. Lauderdale broke the old mark of 47 for Dec. 14, set in 1969, and 44 degrees at Hollywood broke the record of 46 set the same year.

In the West, forecasters warned that up to 6 inches of snow would fall in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies and parts of Wyoming by this morning.