Major winter storm encases northern U.S. in snow, ice and power outages

Winter conditions stretch from coast to coast Thursday as the first round of snow, ice and wind continued to traverse the Great Lakes, southeast Canada and the adjacent northeast U.S. into Friday. A new round has also triggered winter storm warnings all the way to the shore in northern California, while the mountains around Los Angeles await a blizzard.

As the first round of wintry mayhem begins to exit the east, close to a million customers were without power at times Thursday morning in the Midwest and east as an ice storm brought down trees and power lines in the area.

In southwestern Minnesota, portions of Interstate 90 — among other roads — were closed due to blowing snow and whiteout conditions. While the snow is winding down in Minnesota, winds gusting around 30 to 40 mph will keep visibility low.

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At least 1,600 flights have been canceled, on top of similar numbers of cancellations Wednesday, according to FlightAware. A significant chunk of those cancellations are into and out of Minneapolis, where as much as a foot of snow has been reported.

A thick coating of ice

Don’t have a ruler on me but certainly close to quarter-inch radial ice accretion on tree limbs in downtown Ann Arbor. Numerous power outages. I’ll get some actual measurements once the heavy rain stops. @NWSDetroit #miwx pic.twitter.com/WDAUZvuumL

Close to 1 million customers were left without power over Wednesday night into morning in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, according to PowerOutage.us.

Michigan is home to the majority of customer outages, with numbers climbing to over 820,000 as of Thursday evening. Counties near the border of Indiana and Ohio were particularly hard hit, with Hillsdale County reporting 80 percent of customers in the dark. The worst of the ice largely remained to the south of cities like Kalamazoo and Detroit.

Ice accumulations up to 0.50 to 0.75 inches created hazardous driving conditions in addition to the lost power. Although main thoroughfares in the area generally remained more wet than frozen, trees were quick to see ice cake before bending and breaking under the load. Trees across roadways were a common sight, per local reports on social media.

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Warmer air that surged into the region Thursday will melt much of the ice.

Minneapolis and nearby areas

Some of the storm’s worst impacts were forecast in and around Minneapolis. Snowfall totals ended up on the lower end of forecasts, but winds as high as 40 mph still buffeted the area, leading to drifting and visibilities near zero at times.

The drifts on our office sidewalk are around 20 to 24 inches. With the average car's ground clearance being 6 to 9 inches, can you imagine running into one of these going 45+ MPH on the road? Not good..

It doesn't take much to get stranded! Stay safe out there.#MNwx #WIwx pic.twitter.com/zHyZ8msrv4

Snowfall tallies in the Twin Cities range from a foot to 15 inches in spots.

Conditions west and southwest of Minneapolis, where a blizzard warning was in effect, ended up crippling local travel with Interstate 90 shut down amid numerous other road closures, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The interstate remained closed near the South Dakota border Thursday morning.

A report of 15 inches just north of Interstate 90 in Edgerton, Minn., and similar totals around Sioux Falls, S.D., are among the highest in the region.

The northeast

Winter storm warnings for periods of heavy snow were in effect across parts of New York, much of Vermont and New Hampshire, plus parts of Maine through Thursday afternoon.

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Winter weather advisories extend farther southward across New England, into Connecticut, and including cities like Hartford, Conn., and Boston. Around Boston, minor accumulations of freezing rain, sleet and snow are anticipated Thursday night as temperatures fall into the 20s.

From a few inches in northern New York to as much as 6 or 7 inches in Maine are forecast by the National Weather Service.

Ice, snow smack Portland, Ore.

Ice and snow that started in Portland, Ore., late Wednesday continued into Thursday morning. Snow has also been reported in coastal areas of Oregon and northern California. The same upper-level storm center responsible for the snow and ice that just striped the Lower 48 has cut off from the northern hemispheric westerly flow and is now pestering the Pacific Northwest while dropping southward.

With snowfall totals of 6 to 12 inches in the Portland/Vancouver metro area, local media reported that thousands of drivers are parked on impassable roadways and hundreds of cars have been abandoned. On Wednesday, 10.8 inches of snow fell in Portland, making it the second snowiest day on record there.

State transportation officials are advising that people stay off the roads in the Portland area, where schools and businesses are largely closed.

Big totals

Some of the biggest snow totals from this storm are now supersized.

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Wyoming saw snow pile up across much of the state, with more than half a dozen reports of totals reaching 30 inches or greater. As much as 4 feet fell in the state’s south-central mountains. The Wyoming Highway Patrol reported that search-and-rescue operations were taking place in several counties late Wednesday. Low temperatures Wednesday night were between 10 and 30 degrees below zero across the state.

A handful of other big snowfall tallies include:

• Park City, Utah: 29 inches
• Benoit, Wis.: 26 inches
• Hualapai Peak, Ariz.: 24-plus inches
• Apple Valley, Minn.: 19 inches
• Huron, S.D.: 16 inches
• Coal Bank Pass, Colo.: 14 inches

Snowfall totals over a foot are also likely in the northeast, where as much as 8 inches had fallen Thursday morning, with additional snowfall in the forecast through the night.

What’s next

The upper-level storm that got stuck in the west is about to get unstuck.

It slingshots from the Pacific Northwest toward southern California over the next several days. On the way, it’s set to deliver more low elevation snow from Oregon to the Mexico border. Southern California may be in for a historic event.

“We are still on track for our DANGEROUS winter storm,” tweeted NWS Los Angeles. “Expect blizzard conditions in the mountains with FEET of snowfall.”

The highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada and ranges to the south can see 4 to 6 feet, with widespread 2 to 4 feet totals above elevations of 4,500 feet.

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Rare blizzard warnings go into effect 4 a.m. Friday and run to 4 p.m. Saturday in the San Gabriel Mountains overlooking Los Angeles, among other nearby high spots. It’s the first blizzard warning for the area since February 1989. To the southeast, the San Bernardino Mountains were also placed under a blizzard warning, for the first time on record there.

As this portion of the multifaceted storm eventually shifts east, an early-season severe weather threat is expected to develop on the Southern High Plains, partly due to stagnant high pressure in the east delivering the highest February temperatures on record to places like Atlanta.

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