Snowstorm Ends Midwest’s Warm Spell
A late-winter storm cruising through the Midwest snarled airport traffic Saturday and threatened to dump an additional 5 to 10 inches of snow on cities already digging out from as much as half a foot.
The snow started falling Friday night, moving through Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan, and was lingering Saturday in the Midwest. Chicago and Des Moines each have about 6 inches of snow on the ground.
“This is one of the most significant storms of the winter season,” said Oliver Lucia, a staff meteorologist at Weather Services Corp.
The storm breaks a spell of record warm winter weather and is only the second big snow of the season for the Midwest.
Three to 10 inches of snow were expected to fall Saturday in parts of Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, with the heaviest snowfall forecast for northeastern Iowa and northern Michigan, according to data from Weather Services Corp.
The slushy snow seen in Chicago gummed up traffic at O’Hare International Airport, where arriving planes were delayed an average of 38 minutes, but some encountered delays of more than four hours, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
About 150 flights at O’Hare were canceled because of the weather, local television reports said.
Accumulations could top 12 inches by the time the snow has stopped in Chicago, local forecasters said. Primary roads around the city were clear.
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