Massive cross-country winter storm creates travel headaches, power outages
Winter weather returned to the western and northern United States this week with a vengeance. From coast to coast, thousands of flights were canceled, and traffic was brought to a standstill as a massive winter storm ravaged the nation.
Power outages skyrocketed, and several records were broken as the storm dropped snow, sleet and freezing rain across more than 30 states this week. Long stretches of highways were closed as whiteout conditions made it extremely difficult for motorists to see even a few feet in front of them.
Also, a Michigan volunteer firefighter was killed while responding to reports of fallen tree branches on power lines during the storm Wednesday night.
The Paw Paw Fire Department said Ethan Quillen, 28, was securing the scene in Van Buren County when a power line came crashing down on him and he was electrocuted.
Numerous motorists became stranded in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday as the city recorded its second snowiest day on record. At the official weather station for the city, 10.8 inches of snow was measured on Wednesday. This is the most snow the city has recorded in a single day since Jan. 21, 1943, when 14.4 inches of snow fell across the city.
The heavy snow resulted in travel coming to a halt on several area roadways. At least 70 cars were stranded or abandoned on the westbound side of U.S. Highway 26 after conditions deteriorated on Wednesday, according to KPTV Reporter Bonnie Silkman. Some motorists reported being stranded on the highway for more than nine hours.
A video shared on Twitter shows how one man took matters into his own hands after his vehicle got stuck in the snow. He could be seen trying to pedal down the snow-covered highway on his bike as cars slowly drove alongside him.
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24-hour snowfall totals across the lower 48 as of 10:30 a.m. EST Thursday morning. |
As snowfall totals piled up to 4 feet and powerful winds created extremely dangerous conditions on the roadways, the Wyoming Department of Transportation deemed numerous highways "impassable" on Wednesday.
Storm Chaser Aaron Rigsby reported that cars were "completely buried" in large snow drifts on Wednesday.
"Even the local sheriffs are getting stuck as conditions continue to worsen," Rigsby said on Wednesday.
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Highest snowfall reports by state as of Thursday evening, Feb. 23, 2023. |
AccuWeather Meteorologist Tony Laubach reported that all routes in or out of Casper, Wyoming, were closed as snow fell on Wednesday. Even though Casper residents know what the winter entails, this particular winter has delivered more snow than the historical average.
"I enjoy the winters, but this one has been a little bit harder than the rest we've been through since I've been here," Wyoming resident Josh Gollnick told Laubach in an interview on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the dashcam of a Wyoming Highway Patrol vehicle captured the terrifying moment a tractor-trailer nearly hit an officer. The trooper had been returning to his car after investigating another crash when he looked up just in time to bolt to the side of his car. Not a moment later, the truck barreled past, narrowly avoiding the trooper as it drove through the median.
The storm's highest snowfall totals came from Wyoming. On Wednesday, Battle Lake, Wyoming, picked up 4 feet of snow. Battle Lake is located in southern Wyoming, near the Wyoming-Colorado border. Just north of Battle Lake, at the Jack Creek Campground, 44.4 inches of snow was reported.
Across the Southwest, the winter storm knocked power out to thousands of customers and forced the closure of multiple roads.
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) took the "rare step" of preemptively closing multiple highways ahead of the winter storm. A more than 260-mile-long stretch of Interstate 40 was closed just west of Flagstaff, Arizona, to the Arizona-New Mexico border on Wednesday morning. A large section of Interstate 17 south of Flagstaff, Arizona, was also closed.
As of Thursday morning, several stretches of highways remained closed in Arizona, according to ADOT.
In Colorado, several major road closures were reported on Wednesday due to the severe winter weather hindering travel across the state.
The Colorado Department of Transportation noted that U.S. Route 40 eastbound was closed off in the northern part of the state between the Steamboat Springs area and Kremmling, a distance of 45 miles. Other road closures include State Highway 318 eastbound for 60 miles between the Utah border and US-40, as well as Colorado State Highway 14 eastbound closed between Walden and just outside Gould, a distance of 30 miles. In the heart of Denver, the right lane of Interstate 25 northbound was closed off Wednesday afternoon due to an accident.
Air travel was severely impacted at Denver International Airport on Wednesday. More than 150 flights were canceled, and over 500 were delayed at the Denver airport, according to FlightAware.
The winter storm knocked power out to thousands of customers across the country. Early Wednesday morning, power outages soared across the Southwest. More than 150,000 customers were without power across the region.
California accounted for most of the outages, with more than 110,000 homes and businesses in the dark on Wednesday. By Thursday morning, outages had dropped in the Golden State to 40,000, but bumped back up over 100,000 over the weekend due to a record-breaking storm in the state.
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Despite the heaviest snow ending in Minnesota on Thursday morning, several roads remained closed as crews worked to clear lingering impacts from the storm. Several roads in the southwestern corner of the state, including a section of Highway 14, remained closed Thursday afternoon, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
"Listen, if we have to close a highway, it's serious and dangerous," the Minnesota Department of Transportation tweeted Thursday morning, with photos of massive snowdrifts blocking an underpass on Interstate 90.
Storm Chaser Aaron Jayjack reported live from Minneapolis on Thursday morning, noting that crews were busy keeping the roadways cleared and busses were running in the city.
"This does appear to be the final band of snow associated with this multiday winter storm," Jayjack said in an update on Thursday morning. "But drifting will continue to be a problem even though there won't be snowfall."
Jayjack urged motorists planning on driving on any interstates or roads, especially outside of the metro area, to do so cautiously.
The plethora of winter precipitation took a toll on air travel across the U.S., with over 1,700 flights canceled throughout the country on Wednesday, according to FlightAware. More than 7,000 flights across the U.S. were delayed on Wednesday due to the winter weather.
Delta and Southwest airlines accounted for most of the canceled flights. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport was one of the most impacted airports nationwide.
In addition to the snow, a wintry mix fell across the Midwest, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of power outages.
More than 900,000 customers were without power in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan on Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage. U.S. Over 75% of the outages came from Michigan. By Saturday morning, over 450,000 customers in Michigan were still without power. By Monday morning, nearly 130,000 customers were still without power, with more freezing rain on the way on Monday.
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Freezing rain was primarily reported in Michigan on Wednesday. In Parma, a small town west of Detriot, 0.76 of an inch of freezing rain was reported. In Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan, 0.65 of an inch of freezing rain was measured.
This freezing rain created dangerously slick travel conditions for many. Detriot's Metropolitan Wayne County Airport had over 200 flight cancellations and delays on Wednesday due to the weather, FlightAware reported.
In Wisconsin, sleet created a mess on the roadways. In the town of New Berlin, just west of Milwaukee, 2.5 inches of sleet was measured on Wednesday. Franklin, Wisconsin, a town just south of New Berlin, measured 2.3 inches of sleet from the storm.
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