Winter storm unloads 'historic snow' as it marches eastward

The same weather system that delivered heavy snow to portions of Arizona kept emergency management personnel busy throughout Monday as the massive winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow in some locations, contributing to power outages and hazardous traveling conditions as the storm moved eastward across the United States.

Troopers in Nebraska performed more than 60 motorist assists and responded to a handful of crashes by noon on Monday. By 9 p.m., the number of motorist assists they had performed escalated to 313, and they tallied at least 28 crashes. A jackknifed semi-truck was reported at mile marker 397 westbound on Interstate 80 in the state as well as numerous slide-offs in other areas along the interstate.

Poor driving conditions were reported across most of east, southeast, and south-central Nebraska as snowfall totals began to mount.

In Des Moines, Iowa, a state trooper was injured in a collision while assisting the scene of another crash, KCRG News reports. The trooper's vehicle was hit by another vehicle from behind while the car was stopped along Interstate 80 on the north side of Des Moines, the Iowa State Patrol said. The trooper, who was inside their squad car at the time, was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.

Officials reported that seven Iowa Department of Transportation snowplow trucks were hit by other vehicles while trying to keep the streets cleared on Monday.

In eastern Iowa, local agencies reported several incidents due to the storm. According to KCRG News, the Johnson County Sheriff's Office said that it responded to 28 weather-related calls, 10 of which were collisions. The Linn County Sheriff's Office reported 17 weather-related calls for service, two of which were collisions. The Dubuque County Sheriff's Office reported 7 incidents though no collisions. Finally, Cedar Rapids Police said that 11 crashes had taken place, the majority of which were after Midnight on Tuesday.

Omaha, Nebraska, was blanketed by 11.9 inches of snow Monday, the most in a single calendar day since Jan. 10, 1975, when 12.1 inches accumulated. The snowfall total also broke the city's old Jan. 25 snowfall record of 7.1 inches, set back in 1941.

Despite all the snow, the storm wasn't finished. By 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, Omaha had recorded 12.5 inches from the storm.

"This is historic snow," National Weather Service meteorologist Taylor Nicolaisen, who is based near Omaha, told The Associated Press. He added that it had been at least 15 years since the area from York, Nebraska, to Des Moines, Iowa, had received more than a foot of snow from a single storm.

This snowstorm marks the second time Des Moines has seen over 10 inches of snow on Jan. 25. The first date was on Jan. 25, 1895. By Tuesday, Des Moines, Iowa, alone measured 13 inches of snowfall.

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Lincoln, Nebraska, had 14.8 inches of snowfall by Tuesday morning, landing it in the record books as the second biggest two-day event since 1948 when record-keeping began.

About 90 miles to the west, Hastings, Nebraska, reported 8.8 inches as of 1 a.m. Tuesday, local time, though the NWS office north of the city recorded 9.1 inches as of 6 a.m. Tuesday.

The report of 8.8 inches in Hastings smashed a 71-year-old daily snowfall record for the city, surpassing the 4 inches of snowfall on Jan. 25, 1950, with over twice the amount of snowfall.

This heavy snowfall was also the culprit behind thousands of power outages in the north. Outages quickly started ramping up in the late evening hours Monday night as the weather continued to deteriorate. More than 16,000 customers were left in the dark in Indiana by 9:30 p.m. EDT, according to PowerOutage.us.

As the storm carved its path northeastward, Chicago recorded 3 inches of snowfall by Tuesday morning. By the time the snow ended on Tuesday evening, Chicago O'Hare International Airport recorded a storm total of 6 inches.

Ice also started building on the warmer side of the storm where freezing rain occurred with Lincoln, Illinois; and Ligonier, Indiana; receiving 0.20 of an inch; and Bloomery, West Virginia, receiving 0.25 of an inch of ice as of Tuesday morning.

AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said that an amount of "0.20 to 0.25 inches is really the point where things start to get dicey during an ice event." She added, "Ice has glazed over sidewalks and roads, leading to falls and spin-outs. Ice can also begin to weigh down trees and power lines."

Despite some places having record-breaking snowfall totals, other areas, such as St. Louis, were left with a noticeable lack of flakes. The St. Louis Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, Missouri, has only recorded 1 inch of snowfall so far this year, according to the National Weather Service. That total ranks as the 9th-lowest of all-time through Jan. 25.

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