More than a foot of snow fell on parts of the Midwest on Saturday in the first significant wintry storm of the season, creating hazardous driving conditions for travelers gearing up for Thanksgiving treks.
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The storm system is moving east from Nebraska and will last through Saturday evening when it tails through MI, according to Richard Otto, lead forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center.
National Weather Service meteorologist Bruce Sullivan says that Marengo, IL got 12 inches overnight and snow was still falling.
It’s not common for the Chicago area’s first snowfall of the season to dump more than six inches, Seeley said.
Brian Powers/AP People walk about as first snow of the year falls Friday in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Iowa Department of Transportation warned people in Des Moines and several other cities not to travel because of the hazardous conditions. He said the snowfall was wet, with a layer of slush underneath that made the work slow-going.
Bridger Wagner, 3, plays in the snow in front of his house during the first snow of the season Friday, November 20, 2015, in Sioux Falls, S.D. “There’s quite a bit of it and it’s kind of hard plowing and snowblowing”, he said, adding, “It’s just another snowstorm in northern IL”.
Midway worldwide Airport, which is in the southeast part of Chicago, only had about 100 departing and arriving flights that had been canceled by Saturday morning.
The northern IN city of LaPorte is no stranger to heavy snowfalls, though only about four inches were on the ground by noon today. A wide band of moderate to heavy snow is expected north of the low from northern IL to central MI.
The Mitchell Police Division said it responded to more than 14 crashes on Friday.
The storm that moved into northern IL, IN and southern MI overnight has dumped up to a foot of snow IN a few places.
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Temperatures plunged behind the front with Sioux Falls, South Dakota recording 11 degrees early on Saturday and the town of Estherville in northern Iowa even colder at 6 degrees with a wind chill of minus 4, the weather service said.
