Winter Storm Bruce packed a punch over parts of the Midwest on Sunday, leaving roads impassable and forcing the cancellation of thousands of flights.
Portions of northern Missouri, southern Iowa and northern Illinois were placed under a blizzard warning on Saturday, stranding thousands of people in airports in Chicago and Kansas City and creating whiteout conditions along roads and interstates as people traveled back home during the holiday weekend.
230pm: Whiteout conditions continue at Topeka. Drifts nearly a foot deep in spots. #kswx pic.twitter.com/QC8NoKHIRh
— NWS Topeka (@NWSTopeka) November 25, 2018
Whiteout conditions included Topeka, Kansas where the National Weather Service said it was the first blizzard on record in November. In other parts of Kansas, up to 16 inches of snow was dumped in a matter of hours.
In Kansas City, Bruce set a daily snowfall record of 5.3 inches. The previous record was 3.9 inches, set in 1895.
I-70 from Kansas City to US-65 (Marshall Junction) is impassable, especially westbound. Numerous crashes, stranded motorists and traffic is stopped. Please avoid traveling! #KCTraffic #MoWx pic.twitter.com/mvyZxg7qy5
— MSHP Troop A (@MSHPTrooperA) November 25, 2018
In Chicago, over a foot of snow is forecast to fall into late Sunday with 25 percent of flights scheduled for O'Hare Airport and 13 percent for Midway airport being canceled. Over 200 additional flights were delayed across the two airports, according to FlightAware.
The blizzard also put many travelers at a standstill at other airports across the country, including LaGuardia in New York City, Boston-Logan in Boston, and Dallas-Forth Worth International in Texas, as flights were unable to take off due to weather conditions in the Midwest.
Mike Dalton shared took video of thundersnow in Mendota, IL around 6 pm this evening. Also, an off duty @NWSChicago forecaster reported that 2" snow fell in Mendota in just 40 minutes! More thundersnow is possible this evening across N IL, snowfall rates of 2-4"/hour possible! pic.twitter.com/V6sNE1m7Pw
— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) November 26, 2018
The Weather Channel forecasts that the storm will dump between 1 and 2 inches of snow overnight for sections of northern Illinois and expanded into Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Winter Storm Bruce is then expected to extend to parts of New England on Tuesday, impacting Pennslyvania, upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
The storm also proved destructive as it moved across the Rocky Mountains, including causing a 20-car pileup in Colorado on Saturday.
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