Major Weather system blamed for traffic deaths, flight and game cancellations
Pastor Dale Morgan
Major Weather system blamed for traffic deaths, flight and game
cancellations*
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:32 a.m. PT April 13, 2007
CAMP SPRINGS, Md. - Weather forecasters were keeping a close watch
Friday on a storm system developing over the central Plains and central
Rockies.
More snow fell across the region and some parts of Kansas and Colorado
braced for heavy blizzards.
Forecaster Brian Korty said the entire eastern half of the country would
feel the brunt of it in the coming days, calling it the kind of storm
that happens “once every 20 years.”
Along with the chances for more spring snow in some areas, Korty says
the storm could bring flooding rains to the Northeast.
By Thursday, the deadly storm had grounded hundreds of flights and
postponed a baseball game.
A jet trying to land at Traverse City, Mich., skidded 50 feet off a
runway in the heavy snow early Thursday. The plane remained upright, and
the 46 passengers and three crew members were unhurt, Pinnacle Airlines
spokesman Phil Reed said.
Six deaths elsewhere were blamed on the slick conditions.
Ski slopes reopen
The worst of the storm blew into the Northeast, where the National
Weather Service posted a winter storm warnings forecasting up to a foot
of snow through Friday in some areas.
In Vermont, Mount Snow, a ski area that had already closed for the
season, decided to reopen for the weekend after getting 5 inches of new
snow by midday Thursday.
“Better late than never,” said Mount Snow spokesman Chris Lenois.
“There’s no bare spots on the mountain. I’m looking out my window and
it’s all white.”
Forecasters expected up to 10 inches in parts of New Hampshire. Up to 8
inches were expected in central Maine, already hit once this month with
a storm that knocked out power across the state.
Parts of the Midwest got more than 9 inches of snow Wednesday and
Thursday, with another inch or more expected as the snow tapered off
during the day.
“I think we are all cranky about the weather,” said Pat Rowe,
spokeswoman for Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport,
which had delays and cancellations Wednesday.
Flights cancelled
In Chicago, more than 550 flights were canceled at O’Hare International
Airport because of poor visibility on Wednesday, though operations were
mostly back to normal Thursday, said city aviation spokesman Gregg
Cunningham.
Colorado was expecting the worst of the storm Friday, when up to 18
inches of snow was expected to fall in the Rocky Mountain foothills.
Denver International Airport brought contractors in early to help move
snow. United Airlines canceled 80 flights Thursday night and 40 Friday
morning ahead of the storm and was rebooking passengers, spokesman Jeff
Kovick said.
Milwaukee broke a snowfall record for the date with 7 inches; the
previous record of 3.2 inches was recorded in 1997. The town of Taylor,
in west-central Wisconsin, had 9.5 inches. North Dakota and South Dakota
got about 7 inches of snow.
“It’s kind of flying sideways,” hardware store owner Harvey Neu said in
Menomonee Falls, Wis. “It’s not like a gently falling snowfall. It’s
more of a get-out-of-my-face type of thing.”
Wednesday’s Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs game had to be postponed
because of the storm. Last weekend, heavy snow wiped out scheduled
Mariners-Indians games for four straight days at Cleveland. The Indians
moved their home stand against the Angels to Milwaukee’s enclosed field.
Deaths blamed on slick roads
In Minnesota, slick roads apparently caused a pileup involving at least
70 vehicles along Highway 169 just southwest of Minneapolis. At least
two people were seriously injured, the State Patrol said. Six people
were killed in two separate accidents in Iowa, including a woman and her
two children whose minivan collided with another minivan in the state’s
south-central region.
The same system brought tornadoes to the Indianapolis area, the National
Weather Service said. Four tornadoes touched down in the region, causing
some damage to homes and barns. No serious injuries were reported.
As a precaution Thursday, 177 snow removal trucks hit Chicago’s streets
in anticipation of rush-hour traffic, according to Matt Smith, a
spokesman for the city’s streets and sanitation department.
Snow this late is not that unusual, said weather service meteorologist
Andrew Krein in Chicago.
“Typically every few years we’ll get some snow in April,” Krein said.
“Snow in April is not unheard of.”