9-Inch Snowfall Clogs Roads, Strands Cars in Midwest

A snowstorm swept into the Midwest on Thursday, clogging some major highways with more than 9 inches of snow.

The blanket of snow that covered parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri, Michigan and Oklahoma confounded forecasters who had predicted only 2 inches of snow, and it stranded many motorists, authorities said.

The Iowa State Patrol closed Interstate 35 south from Des Moines to the Missouri border because of the storm, which dropped more than 9 inches of snow in some areas.

Pat Eddy, who works at the Stuart-66 truck stop west of Des Moines on Interstate 80, said the restaurant was jammed with truck drivers and others who took the advice of the state police to get off the road.

“I counted 24 trucks out in our parking lot and that’s just what I could see through the snow,” Eddy said. “I’m not going out there to count ‘em.”

In Des Moines, crews worked 12-hour shifts using 60 snowplows to clear city streets.

Kim Balmer, a dispatcher with the Jasper County sheriff’s office in Newton, about 25 miles east of Des Moines, said the storm began as freezing rain before turning to snow. She said the latest measurement showed 9 inches of snow in Newton.

“It’s bad,” Balmer said. “There’s a lot of stuck cars, a lot of stalled cars. Just about everybody who is trying to move has been pretty unsuccessful.”

The National Weather Service said the storm developed in the Rockies and brought 8 inches of snow to Nebraska, 6 inches in Wisconsin, 5 inches in Missouri and about an inch in the Oklahoma Panhandle and sparked thunderstorms in northern portions of the state.

Overnight snow in Idaho and Montana left many roads snow-covered and icy.

Classes in more than a dozen southern Michigan school districts were closed because of icy roads.

The snow was welcomed in Nebraska, where farmers said it would provide needed moisture for the winter wheat crop.

Bitterly cold and high winds raked the northern Plains. Temperatures dropped to the single digits in northern North Dakota and Minnesota.