Severe weather conditions in California have left roads shut down due to rockslides and freeways closed due to heavy snowfall and dangerous ice. And more harsh winter weather is on the way for parts of the West Coast. Joy Benedict reports.
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Large swathes of Southern California are being hit with wintry weather as a storm system moves through the region. The National Weather Service in Los Angeles said that Friday will be “a busy weather day,” with plenty of heavy rain, wind and snow, and “even waterspouts or small tornadoes.”
A blizzard warning for the Ventura County and Los Angeles County mountains remains in effect until 4 p.m. local time Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. This marks the first time since 1989 that the weather service issued a blizzard warning for the Southern California mountains. A flash flood warning was also issued for much of the L.A. area Friday afternoon, and was in effect through 10 p.m. Friday.
A motorist drives on a wet road under a snow-covered hillside Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, in Agua Dulce, Calif. California and other parts of the West faced heavy snow and rain from the latest winter storm to pound the U.S.
Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
The Sierra Avalanche Center also issued an avalanche warning for parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains from Friday morning until Saturday morning. Forecasters predicted “multiple rounds” of snow, with accumulations of up to 3 to 5 feet predicted for the Sierra Nevada region.
“This storm system will be unusually cold, and snow levels will be very low,” the National Weather Service said Friday. “In fact, areas very close to the Pacific Coast and also into the interior valleys that are not accustomed to seeing snow, may see some accumulating snowfall.”
Eight-year-old Gael Guzman, left, has a snowball fight with his 11-year-old brother Atziel Guzman on Feb. 24, 2023 in Angwin, California, as a large winter storm brought snow to lower elevations in the Napa Valley.
According to social media posts from local agencies, the weather has resulted in multiple road and highway closures after snow and ice accumulated on the surfaces.
Winter storms have sowed chaos across the U.S. this week, bringing heavy snow to places that rarely see it as well as areas that do, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and grounding or delaying thousands of flights.
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Forecasters have issued blizzard and winter storm warnings for parts of Southern California as large swaths of the state prepare for incoming snow.
A winter storm warning is in effect for the Ventura County and Los Angeles County mountains until 4 a.m. local time Friday. A blizzard warning is in effect from 4 a.m. Friday to 4 p.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
It marks the first time since 1989 that the weather service issued a blizzard warning for the Southern California mountains.
Forecasters predict “multiple rounds” of snow, with accumulations of up to 3 to 5 feet predicted for the Sierra Nevada region.
Snow was also expected over some lower foothills and valley areas near the Pacific Coast, the weather service said, “given the depth of cold air that has infiltrated the West.”
“On Thursday and Friday, the heavy snowfall threat across the West should become more centered over California as a new storm system developing just off the West Coast drops south and begins to edge into the Southwest for the end of the week,” forecasters said.
Latest radar image as of 412 AM:
Scattered light showers moving across the area.
Expect scattered showers to continue thru the afternoon.
With snow levels 1500-2000 feet, snow will likely across the mountain and interior foothills this morning. #CAwxpic.twitter.com/pfwKEkt7vm
Winter storms have sowed chaos across the U.S. this week, bringing heavy snow to places that rarely see it, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and grounding or delaying thousands of flights.
Much of Portland was shut down after the city experienced its second snowiest day in history and travel was paralyzed from parts of the Pacific Coast all the way to the northern Plains.
The nearly 11 inches of snow that fell in Portland stalled traffic during the Wednesday evening rush and trapped drivers on freeways. Some spent the night in their vehicles or abandoned them altogether as crews struggled to clear roads.
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A brutal winter storm closed interstate highways from Arizona to Wyoming Wednesday, trapped drivers in cars, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the first blizzard warning in Southern California in decades — and the worst won’t be over for several days.
Few places were untouched by the wild weather, including some at the opposite extreme: long-standing record highs were broken in cities in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
More than 785,000 customers nationwide were without electricity as of late Wednesday night, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility outages. Of those, more than 585,000 were in Michigan, and 118,000 in Illinois.
Luis Lara clears snow off of sidewalks on Feb. 22, 2023, in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via Getty Images
The wintry mix hit hard in the northern U.S., closing schools, offices, even shutting down the Minnesota Legislature. Travel was difficult. Weather contributed to more than 1,600 U.S. flight cancellations, according to the tracking service FlightAware. More than 400 of those were due to arrive or depart from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Another 5,900-plus flights were delayed across the country.
At Denver International Airport, Taylor Dotson, her husband, Reggie, and their 4-year-old daughter, Raegan, faced a two-hour flight delay to Nashville on their way home to Belvidere, Tennessee.
Reggie Dotson was in Denver to interview for a job as an airline pilot.
“I think that’s kind of funny that we’ve experienced these types of delays when that’s what he’s looking into getting into now as a career,” Taylor Dotson said.
The roads were just as bad.
Motorists move along the northbound lanes of Interstate 25 near the Air Force Academy after a winter storm packing heavy snow and single-digit temperatures swept over the intermountain West Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, in Colorado Springs, Colo.
David Zalubowski / AP
In Wyoming, rescuers tried to reach people stranded in vehicles but high winds and drifting snow created a “near-impossible situation” for them, said Sgt. Jeremy Beck of the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
“They know their locations, it’s just hard for them to get them,” he said.
Wyoming’s Transportation Department posted on social media that roads across much of the southern part of the state were impassable.
In the Pacific Northwest, high winds and heavy snow in the Cascade Mountains prevented search teams from reaching the bodies of three climbers killed in an avalanche on Washington’s Colchuck Peak over the weekend. Two experts from the Northwest Avalanche Center were hiking to the scene Wednesday to determine if conditions might permit a recovery attempt later this week.
Powerful winds were the biggest problem in California, toppling trees and power lines. By Wednesday evening, more than 42,000 customers in the state were without electricity, according to PowerOutage.us.
A 1-year-old child was critically injured Tuesday evening when a redwood crashed onto a home in Boulder Creek, a community in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco, KTVU reported.
For the first time since 1989, a blizzard warning was issued for the mountains of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, effective from 4 a.m. Thursday to 4 p.m. Saturday, the National Weather Service said.
We are still on track for our DANGEROUS winter storm. Expect blizzard conditions in the mountains with FEET of snowfall. A few inches of rain are expected in lower elevations. Be weather ready! #CAwx#LArain#LAsnow#blizzardpic.twitter.com/HbUn08J2qQ
“Nearly the entire population of CA will be able to see snow from some vantage point later this week if they look in the right direction (i.e., toward the highest hills in vicinity),” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain tweeted.
A more than 200-mile stretch of Interstate 40 from central Arizona to the New Mexico line closed due to snow, rain and wind gusts of up to 80 mph. More than 8,000 customers were without power in Arizona.
In the northern U.S. — a region accustomed to heavy snow — the snowfall could be significant. More than 18 inches may pile up in parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the National Weather Service said Wednesday evening. According to the weather service, the biggest snow event on record in the Twin Cities was 28.4 inches from Oct. 31 through Nov. 3, 1991.
Temperatures could plunge as low as minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit Thursday and to minus 25 F Friday in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wind chills may fall to minus 50 F, said Nathan Rick, a meteorologist in Grand Forks.
Wind gusts may reach 50 mph in western and central Minnesota, resulting in “significant blowing and drifting snow with whiteout conditions in open areas,” the weather service said.
The weather even prompted about 90 churches in western Michigan to cancel Ash Wednesday services, WZZM-TV reported.
“We are bracing for what is likely to be one of the largest snow storms in Minnesota history,” St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter had said in a news conference Tuesday.
The storm will make its way toward the East Coast later this week. Places that don’t get snow may get dangerous amounts of ice. Forecasters expect up to a half-inch of ice in parts of southern Michigan, northern Illinois and some eastern states.
The potential ice storm has power company officials on edge. Nearly 1,500 line workers are ready to be deployed if the ice causes outages, said Matt Paul, executive vice president of distribution operations for Detroit-based DTE Electric. He said a half-inch of ice could cause hundreds of thousands of outages.
A half-inch of ice covering a wire “is the equivalent of having a baby grand piano on that single span of wire, so the weight is significant,” Paul said.
As the northern U.S. dealt with the winter blast, National Weather Service meteorologist Richard Bann said some mid-Atlantic and Southeastern cities set new high temperature marks by several degrees.
The high in Lexington, Kentucky, reached 76 F, shattering the Feb. 22 mark of 70 F set 101 years ago. Nashville, Tennessee, reached 78 F, topping the 1897 record by 4 degrees. Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Mobile, Alabama, were among many other places seeing record highs.
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A polar vortex is bringing record cold to the Northeast, but it won’t be sticking around for long. The Weather Channel’s Chris Warren has the forecast.
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New England will feel the brunt of a polar vortex with dangerous wind chills. The deep freeze has forced school closures in Boston, and the city has opened dozens of warming centers. Nancy Chen shares the latest.
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The South is struggling to recover from an ice storm that left many in Texas without power. The North is also bracing for a cold blast, with temperatures in some places expected to plunge below zero. Lilia Luciano has the latest.
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Millions of people across the south and central U.S. were under some form of winter weather alert Tuesday. Omar Villafranca reports from Memphis, Tennessee.
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Millions of Americans are under winter storm alerts from Texas to Pennsylvania. The system is also bringing dangerously cold temperatures. The Weather Channel’s Chris Warren has the forecast.
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During a recent blizzard in Buffalo, New York, a woman saved a stranger, who is developmentally disabled, from the cold. The rescued man’s sister recently visited the woman’s house to see where her brother was treated like family. David Begnaud shares more.
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A powerful winter storm brought on by an atmospheric river hit parts of the West Coast on Tuesday, including portions of Northern California, Oregon and Washington state, causing blustery winds, dumping several inches of rain and bringing flooding to some areas.
As of Tuesday evening, more than 190,000 homes and businesses in the Pacific Northwest were without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
The storm was caused by an atmospheric river – a weather system made up of a long narrow channel that carries water vapor.
Record high tide of 18.4 feet submerged parts of the Washington state capital of Olympia, and swept marine life into the city’s streets, officials said.
“Jellyfish washed over the shoreline and into our streets,” said Olympia Water Resources Director Eric Christensen. “There was a woman who was kind enough to rescue them and put them back into Budd Inlet.”
Other areas around Puget Sound — including parts of Seattle and the northwest corner of the state — also saw flooding, which trapped cars and impacted buildings.
Coastal flooding and high wind advisories were in effect for much of western Washington state.
CBS affiliate KOIN-TV reported that several freeways in the Portland area were closed Tuesday night due to flooding, downed trees and high winds.
The weather conditions forced the full or partial closure of several Oregon state parks at a time when whale watchers and holiday tourists typically flock to the coast.
Thirty-foot waves were expected to break along the entire Oregon coast, the National Weather Service said, with wave heights possibly topping 40 feet on the north coast.
Heavy rainfall in Northern California’s Bay Area on Tuesday morning caused flooding on freeways and created a traffic nightmare for morning rush hour commuters, with 60 freeway collisions reported to California Highway Patrol by 8:30 a.m. local time, according to CBS San Francisco.
Mount Tamalpais State Park in Marin County had recorded a staggering 4.1 inches of rain by 6 a.m., CBS San Francisco reported. The powerful winds and rain downed trees and caused power outages to several thousand customers.
Golden Gate Bridge is seen as rainstorm hits San Francisco on Dec. 27, 2022.
Tayfun CoÃ…kun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The National Weather Service predicted that a second storm front is expected to hit the West Coast from Central California up to the Pacific Northwest on Thursday and bring another round of heavy rain and snow.
The Weather Channel meteorologist Chris Warren said that the Pacific Northwest could see mudslides and landslides in the coming days, along with several feet of snow.
“In many areas, snow will be measured in feet, five to six feet,” Warren said.
Tens of millions of Americans endured bone-chilling temperatures, blizzard conditions, power outages, flash flooding and canceled holiday plans Friday from a winter storm that forecasters said was nearly unprecedented in its scope, exposing about 60% of the U.S. population to some sort of winter weather advisory or warning.
Near whiteout conditions were reported in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, while flash flooding inundated communities across several Northeast states.
So far, at least 19 deaths related to the storm have been confirmed across the country. Of those, eight people died in weather-related crashes in Ohio, state highway patrol confirmed to CBS News Friday night, including four who were killed in a multi-car pileup involving around 50 vehicles on the Ohio Turnpike.
More than 200 million people were under a winter weather advisory or warning on Friday, the National Weather Service said. The weather service’s map “depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever,” forecasters said.
Rows of headstones at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery are blanketed by drifting snow Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, in Mandan, N.D.
Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP
More than 5,800 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled by Friday night, according to the tracking site FlightAware, causing more mayhem as travelers try to make it home for the holidays.
As of Friday night, power outages had left more than one million homes and businesses in the dark, according to the website PowerOutage.us, which tracks utility reports. The Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public utility, ended its rolling blackouts Friday afternoon but continued to urge homes and businesses to conserve power. In Georgia, hundreds of people in Atlanta and northern parts of the state were without power and facing the possibility of sub-zero wind chills without heat.
In Buffalo, New York, the National Weather Service reported “zero mile” visibility and posted a video showing the whiteout conditions. The regional transportation authority said all flights at the Buffalo airport were canceled through Friday night.
So what does “zero mile” visibility look like? Well, here’s a spectacular view of our parking lot near the airport. Yes, there are cars parked just a few feet away.
Thousands of people were without power across Erie County. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced late Friday that 54 National Guard members were being deployed to Erie County “to assists residents, particularly those who have emergency medical appointments and need help traveling.”
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown urged people to stay home, and the NHL postponed the Buffalo Sabres’ home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Forecasters say a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard-like conditions, including heavy winds and snow. Blizzard warnings were in effect through Saturday for the Great Lakes.
“Some of the coldest air we’ve felt in a longtime in the Northeast will happen tomorrow (Saturday) morning, with temperatures feeling like they’re below zero,” Weather Channel meteorologist Chris Warren said.
A member of the media battles snow and ice as Lake Erie waters wash over the shoreline on Dec. 23, 2022 in Hamburg, New York, a suburb of Buffalo.
John Normile / Getty Images
The area could see 2 to 4 feet of snow through the weekend, National Weather Service meteorologist Richard Otto said. It comes just over a month after the area was pummeled by a storm that dumped a record 6 feet of snow in some areas.
Denver, also no stranger to winter storms, was the coldest it has been in 32 years on Thursday, when the temperature dropped to minus 24 in the morning at the airport.
The huge storm stretched from border to border and beyond. In Canada, WestJet canceled all flights Friday at Toronto Pearson International Airport, beginning at 9 a.m. And in Mexico, migrants waited near the U.S. border in unusually cold temperatures as they awaited a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether and when to lift pandemic-era restrictions that prevent many from seeking asylum.
“This is not like a snow day when you were a kid,” President Joe Biden warned Thursday in the Oval Office after a briefing from federal officials. “This is serious stuff.”
Storm flooding exacerbated by heavy winds inundated roads, homes and businesses in parts of New York City.
In Howard Beach, Queens, police officers trudged through knee-deep water to pull stranded motorists to safety in the morning.
In Rockaway Beach, Queens, bystander video posted by the Rockaway Times showed a man wading past submerged cars and debris to rescue a child from a flooded ground-floor apartment.
The city’s emergency management commissioner said the new moon, high tide and offshore winds made the flooding more severe.
Commissioner Zachary Iscol said fierce winds pushed water into New York Harbor and Jamaica Bay, adding about 3 feet to the mean tide flood surge.
The police department stationed emergency services trucks and other high-axle vehicles in flood-prone areas to facilitate rescues, Iscol said.
“They did do a number of rescues this morning,” Iscol said. “None of them were life-threatening. Most of them were folks who were trapped in vehicles.”
Long Island also got hit hard by rain, with enough water flooding the streets in some places to lift parked cars off the ground and cascade into basements.
“This is a difficult weather event. We needed to prepare not only for rain, but also tidal flooding that was made worse by the new moon, in addition to large amounts of wind offshore that was piling water into New York Harbor, in addition to Jamaica Bay, adding about three [feet] above mean tide flood surge,” said Zachary Iscol, New York City’s Emergency Management Commissioner.
The “next phase,” he warned, “is going to be a precipitous drop in temperature, going down to the low teens, single digits over the weekend.”
At least one person had to be rescued from a vehicle stranded in icy waters in Wells, Maine.
A water rescue by Captain Chabot of the Wells Police Department in Maine as a winter storm brought flooding to the coast on Dec. 23, 2022.
Wells Police Department
“Please avoid the coastal roads right now,” tweeted the Wells Police Department, sharing video of crashing waves and flooding.
The cold also led to a high demand at homeless shelters, including in Detroit, where some shelters were at capacity Thursday as the temperature plummeted to single digits with negative windchills.
“We are not sending anyone back into this cold,” Aisha Morrell-Ferguson, a spokeswoman for COTS, a family-only shelter, told The Detroit News.
In Chicago, the Arctic blast brought below-zero temperatures with wind chills as low as minus 30 expected overnight, CBS Chicago reported. High temperatures Saturday won’t get out of the teens.
Arnida Edmonson clears snow from her car during the aftermath of the winter storm on Dec. 23, 2022, in Chicago.
Michael Blackshire/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Emergency weather shelters in Portland, Oregon, called for volunteers amid high demand and staffing issues. An unprecedented number of people were seeking shelter in a region where thousands live outside, and many staff members were unable to make it to their shifts because of dangerous road conditions or illness, officials said.
Nearly 800 people slept at the city’s five emergency shelters on Thursday night, said Julie Sullivan-Springhetti, spokesperson for Multnomah County, which is home to Portland.
“The largest number of people that I’ve ever seen have come into shelter,” she said. “We are trying to get more support. We have the experts in charge, but this is for helping folks with meals, wheelchairs, getting them to the right spot.”
The frigid air was moving through the central United States to the east, with wind chill advisories affecting about 135 million people over the coming days, National Weather Service meteorologist Ashton Robinson Cook said Thursday. Places like Des Moines, Iowa, will feel like minus 37 degrees, making it possible to suffer frostbite in less than five minutes.
As the storm sweeps the nation, a shortage of snowplow operators is impacting states from Oregon to Ohio, with transportation officials blaming low wages and a tight labor market. The shortfall could make roads less safe.
Street lights and snow blow in severe wind gusts during a massive winter storm affecting most of the USA., in Flint, Michigan, on Dec. 23, 2022.
More than 200 million people were under some form of winter weather advisory or warning on Friday, the National Weather Service said. The weather service’s map “depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever,” forecasters said in a statement Friday.
More than 3,900 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled Friday, according to the tracking site FlightAware, causing more mayhem as travelers try to make it home for the holidays. More than 458,000 homes and businesses were without power Friday morning.
The huge storm stretched from border to border. In Canada, WestJet canceled all flights Friday at Toronto Pearson International Airport, beginning at 9 a.m. And in Mexico, migrants waited near the U.S. border in unusually cold temperatures as they awaited a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether and when to lift pandemic-era restrictions that prevent many from seeking asylum.
“This is not like a snow day when you were a kid,” President Joe Biden warned Thursday in the Oval Office after a briefing from federal officials. “This is serious stuff.”
Travelers unload from cars Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022 at Terminal 1 of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in Minneapolis. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
Kerem Yücel / AP
Forecasters say a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard-like conditions, including heavy winds and snow.
Among those with canceled flights was Ashley Sherrod, who planned to fly from Nashville, Tennessee, to Flint, Michigan, on Thursday afternoon. Sherrod was debating whether to drive or risk booking a Saturday flight that she worries will be canceled.
“My family is calling, they want me home for Christmas, but they want me to be safe, too,” said Sherrod, whose bag — including the Grinch pajamas she was planning to wear to a family party — was packed and ready by the door. “Christmas is starting to, for lack of a better word, suck.”
The cold also led to a high demand at homeless shelters, including in Detroit, where some shelters were at capacity Thursday as the temperature plummeted to single digits with negative windchills.
“We are not sending anyone back into this cold,” Aisha Morrell-Ferguson, a spokeswoman for COTS, a family-only shelter, told The Detroit News.
Rows of headstones at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery are blanketed by drifting snow Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, in Mandan, N.D. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)
Tom Stromme / AP
And in Portland, Oregon, officials opened four emergency shelters. In the city’s downtown, Steven Venus tried to get on a light-rail train to get out of the cold after huddling on the sidewalk overnight in below-zero temperatures.
“My toes were freezing off,” he said, a sleeping bag wrapped around his head, as he paused near a flimsy tent where another homeless person was taking shelter.
Courtney Dodds, a spokeswoman for the Union Gospel Mission, said teams from her organization had been going out to try to persuade people to seek shelter.
“It can be really easy for people to doze off and fall asleep and wind up losing their lives because of the cold weather,” she said.
The frigid air was moving through the central United States to the east, with windchill advisories affecting about 135 million people over the coming days, National Weather Service meteorologist Ashton Robinson Cook said Thursday. Places like Des Moines, Iowa, will feel like minus 37 degrees, making it possible to suffer frostbite in less than five minutes.
As the storm sweeps the nation, a shortage of snowplow operators is impacting U.S. states from Oregon to Ohio, with transportation officials blaming low wages and a tight labor market. The shortfall could make roads less safe.
Meanwhile, in famously snowy Buffalo, New York, forecasters predicted a “once-in-a-generation storm” because of heavy lake-effect snow, wind gusts as high as 65 mph (105 kph), whiteouts and the potential for extensive power outages. Mayor Byron Brown urged people to stay home, and the NHL postponed the Buffalo Sabres’ home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The area could see 2 to 4 feet (0.6 to 1.2 meters) of snow through the weekend, National Weather Service meteorologist Richard Otto said.
Denver, also no stranger to winter storms, was the coldest it has been in 32 years on Thursday, when the temperature dropped to minus 24 in the morning at the airport.
Travelers across much of the eastern United States were bracing Thursday for one of the most treacherous Christmas weekends in decades, with forecasters warning of a “bomb cyclone” that will pack heavy snow and wind while sending temperatures plummeting 50 degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of hours.
The frigid air was moving through the central United States to the east, with wind chill advisories affecting about 135 million people over the coming days, weather service meteorologist Ashton Robinson Cook said Thursday. Places like Des Moines, Iowa, will feel like minus 37 degrees, making it possible to suffer frostbite in less than five minutes.
There were already widespread disruptions in flights and train travel. As of Thursday afternoon, 2,225 flights had been cancelled in the U.S., and about 6,800 were delayed. The numbers were predicted to continue to climb as freezing weather hits the Midwest. Airports in Chicago and Denver were reporting the most cancelations.
“Today’s a very challenging day for Delta teams, exacerbated by a freeing rain event in the Pacific Northwest,” Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant told CBS News Thursday. “Tomorrow, the challenges will be at our Detroit hub with a change in the forecast overnight of rain to snow.”
Unexpected light snow in the Dallas area forced de-icing operations at Dallas Fort Worth International and Dallas Love Field airports, resulting in additional delays.
High winds whip around 7.5 inches of new snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport as workers prepare a Sun Country Airlines plane for takeoff on Dec. 22, 2022.
David Joles/Star Tribune via Getty Images
“This is not like a snow day when you were a kid,” President Biden warned Thursday in the Oval Office after a briefing from federal officials. “This is serious stuff.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a statewide state of emergency Thursday evening, saying in a statement that “heavy rain and snow, strong winds, coastal and lakeshore flooding, flash freezing, extremely low wind chills and power outages” were “all possible.”
Forecasters are expecting a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — to develop near the Great Lakes, which will increase winds and create blizzard conditions, Cook said.
A man shovels the sidewalk while another one clears the snow with a power sweeper Dec. 22, 2022 in downtown Minneapolis.
Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via Getty Images
In South Dakota, Rosebud Sioux Tribe emergency manager Robert Oliver said tribal authorities have been working to clear roads to deliver propane and fire wood to homes, but face a relentless wind that has created drifts over 10 feet in some places.
“This weather and the amount of equipment we have — we don’t have enough,” Oliver said, noting that rescues of people stranded in their homes had to be halted early Thursday when the hydraulic fluid in heavy equipment froze amid a 41 below zero windchill.
He said five have died in recent storms, including a blizzard from last week.
“It’s just kind of scary for us here, we just kind of feel isolated and left out,” said Shawn Bordeaux, a Democratic state lawmaker, who said he was running out of propane heat at his home near Mission on the tribe’s reservation.
In Texas, temperatures were expected to quickly plummet Thursday, but state leaders promised there wouldn’t be a repeat of the February 2021 storm that overwhelmed the state’s power grid and was blamed for hundreds of deaths.
The cold weather extended to El Paso and across the border into Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where migrants have been camping outside or filling shelters as they await a decision on whether the U.S. will lift restrictions that have prevented many from seeking asylum.
Transmission towers at a power plant near the Energy Research Park facility on Dec. 22, 2022 in Houston, Texas.
BRANDON BELL / Getty Images
Elsewhere in the U.S., authorities worried about the potential for power failures and warned people to take precautions to protect older and homeless people and livestock — and, if possible, to postpone travel. Some utilities were urging customers to turn down theirs thermostats to conserve energy.
“This event could be life-threatening if you are stranded,” according to an online post by the National Weather Service in Minnesota, where transportation and patrol officials reported dozens of crashes and vehicles off the road.
Michigan State Police prepared to deploy additional troopers to help motorists. And along Interstate 90 in northern Indiana, crews were braced to clear as much as a foot of snow as meteorologists warned of blizzard conditions there starting Thursday evening.
Among those with canceled flights was Ashley Sherrod, who planned to fly from Nashville to Flint, Michigan, on Thursday afternoon. Sherrod is now debating whether to drive or risk booking a Saturday flight she worries will be canceled.
“My family is calling, they want me home for Christmas, but they want me to be safe too,” said Sherrod, whose bag — including the Grinch pajamas she was planning to wear to a family party — is packed and ready by the door. “Christmas is starting to, for lack of a better word, suck.”
Amtrak, meanwhile, canceled service on more than 20 routes, primarily in the Midwest.
Some shelters in the Detroit area already were at capacity but still making room.
And in Portland, Oregon, officials opened four emergency shelters. In the city’s downtown, Steven Venus tried to get on a light-rail train to get out of the cold after huddling on the sidewalk overnight in temperatures that dipped to zero degrees with wind gusts of 40 mph.
“My toes were freezing off,” he said, a sleeping bag wrapped around his head, as he paused near a flimsy tent where another homeless person was taking shelter.
Courtney Dodds, a spokeswoman for the Union Gospel Mission, said teams from her organization had been going out to try to convince people to seek shelter.
“It can be really easy for people to doze off and fall asleep and wind up losing their lives because of the cold weather.”
In Montana, temperatures fell as low as 50 below zero at Elk Park, a mountain pass on the Continental Divide. Schools and several ski areas announced closures, and several thousand people lost power.
Near Big Sandy, Montana, rancher Rich Roth said he wasn’t too concerned about his 3,500 pregnant cows weathering the cold snap, saying “they’re pretty dang resilient animals” and are acclimated to the weather.
In famously snowy Buffalo, New York, forecasters predicted a “once-in-a-generation storm” because of heavy lake-effect snow, wind gusts as high as 65 mph (105 kph), whiteouts and the potential for extensive power outages. Mayor Byron Brown urged people to stay home, and the NHL postponed the Buffalo Sabres’ home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Denver, also no stranger to winter storms, was the coldest it has been in 32 years on Thursday, when the temperature dropped to minus 24 in the morning at the airport.
In Charleston, South Carolina, a coastal flood warning was in effect Thursday. The area, a popular tourist destination for its mild winters, braced for strong winds and freezing temperatures.
The wintry weather extended into Canada, causing delays and cancellations earlier in the week at Vancouver International Airport. A major winter storm was expected Friday into Saturday in Toronto, where wind gusts as high as 60 mph were predicted to cause blowing snow and limited visibility, Environment Canada said.
A cross-country winter storm is expected to bring severe weather, including heavy snow and flooding, to multiple states as it makes its way across the central U.S.
Heavy snow and blizzard conditions are expected to smash into the Great Plains and the Midwest beginning late Monday and stretching into Thursday, the National Weather Service forecasted. The major storm will “produce numerous, widespread, and impactful weather hazards in the heart of the country this week,” NWS said.
The expected extreme weather is part of the same system that over the weekend dumped heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada while downpours at lower elevations triggered flood watches across large swaths of California into Nevada.
Flash flooding and severe weather were expected in Southern and Central Plains Monday night and in the Lower Mississippi Valley by midweek, NWS said.
By Tuesday, Texas and northern Louisiana could be pummeled by severe hail, winds and tornadoes. The storm will continue southeast into Florida later in the week, forecasters said.
Regions stretching along the front range of the Rockies from Montana to Colorado were under blizzard warnings Monday, and the National Weather Service said that as much as 2 feet of snow were possible in some parts of western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska. Meanwhile, ice and sleet were expected in the eastern Great Plains.
Officials in western South Dakota told residents to brace for 6 inches (15 centimeters) or more of snow: “Get your shovels handy, get your groceries, and check other needed supplies. The roads will be hard to travel.”
The Eastern Plains in Colorado received its first blizzard warning of the season, which is in effect from midnight Monday night through midnight Tuesday night, CBS Colorado reported. The area is expected to be slammed with up to 10 inches of snow and could see wind gusts as high as 60 mph wind gusts — conditions that will likely prompt road closures.
The Weather Channel’s Mike Bettes on Monday told “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell that heavy snow and strong wind gusts will make travel will be “impossible” in some parts of the country.
National Weather Service warned that up to about half an inch (2.5 centimeters) of ice could form and winds could gust up to 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour) in parts of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. Power outages, tree damage, falling branches and hazardous travel conditions all threatened the region.
“This is a ‘we are not kidding’ kind of storm,” the South Dakota Department of Public Safety said in a tweet urging people to stock up on essentials, then stay home once the storm hits.
Thousands of students from Native American communities across Wyoming, Nebraska and the Dakotas were traveling to Rapid City, South Dakota, for this week’s Lakota Nation Invitational, a high school athletic event. Brian Brewer, one of the organizers, said he had urged schools and participants to travel early.
“We told them with this storm coming — if you leave tomorrow, there’s a good chance you might not make it,” he said Monday.
In northern Utah, a tour bus crashed Monday morning as snow and frigid temperatures blanketed the region. The bus flipped onto its side in Tremonton after the driver lost control while switching lanes, the Highway Patrol said in a statement. The Highway Patrol said 23 passengers were injured, including some seriously.
Parts of Northern California were buried under six feet of snow over the weekend, closing major roads and causing power outages. The Midwest is bracing for a blizzard as the storm moves east. Carter Evans has the latest.
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The second of two back-to-back storms was moving across the West this weekend, bringing another round of snow, rain and blustery winds. Danya Bacchus has more.
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