Wind, snow sweep U.S. Plains, Lake Michigan faces 20-foot waves

By Brendan O'Brien MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - A weather system packing high winds and snow moved through the U.S. High Plains on Wednesday, bringing with it tornadoes and warnings of whiteouts and dangerous road conditions. The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for eastern Colorado, northwestern Kansas and southwestern Nebraska ahead of the system, which it expected to bring gusts of 55 miles per hour (88 km per hour) and dump at least 5 inches (8 cm) of snow in some areas. "The main issue is the traffic," said Brian Warren, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Kansas. "You do not want to be out there." The winter weather is arriving earlier than expected this year, he said. The service predicted 20-foot (6 m) waves on Lake Michigan and warned of possible flooding near waterways as the system moves through the Midwest on Thursday and Friday. Warnings throughout the region said swirling snow and whiteout conditions would make driving "extremely dangerous." Tornadoes have been reported on the ground in the southern part of Iowa as the storm system moves east. Property damage was reported in Marion County, southeast of Des Moines, including the towns of Knoxville and Columbia, said John Benson, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. "They're out there assessing the damage right now," Benson said. He did not know if there were any injuries. Forecasters expect the system to move out of the Plains by Wednesday evening and into the Midwest, where high wind warnings and advisories are in effect into Thursday. High waves could cause commercial freight operators on Lake Michigan to halt or delay shipments on Thursday and Friday, according to Ricky Castro, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. "This is probably going to shut down a lot of the traffic on the lake," he said. Lake Michigan is notorious for gale-force winds in November that churn up the lake and create extremely hazardous conditions for ships. The Great Lakes are known for severe weather. Tuesday was the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior. The ship sank with 29 crew members when it ran into a storm with 30-foot (9 m) waves. One of the most storied storms on the lakes occurred on November 9, 1913. The "Great Lakes Storm" carried blizzard conditions and hurricane force winds, overturned ships on four of the five Great Lakes and left more than 250 people dead. The National Weather Service also issued an advisory for Northern Indiana and said winds could reach 55 mph. "Wind speeds of this magnitude will be hazardous to high-profile vehicles on north-south roadways," the advisory said, adding that tree and power line damage was possible. The service issued tornado watches for parts of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, where severe thunderstorms have been predicted. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Toni Reinhold)