A blizzard is barreling through the North, bringing a major ice storm and heavy snow to the Dakotas, Iowa, Nebraska, Eastern Colorado and southwestern Minnesota.
The major winter storm is shutting down highways and threatening power outages as part of the same coast-to-coast storm system bringing a multi-day severe weather outbreak to the South.
Blizzard Warnings are in effect Tuesday from northeastern Colorado into eastern Wyoming, western South Dakota, western Nebraska and a sliver of southeastern Montana.
The largest concerns are significant icing, and blizzard conditions bringing in feet of snow and wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour will lead to near-whiteout conditions.
Photos from highway cameras in Nebraska and South Dakota showed near whiteout conditions amid snow covered roadways.
In western Nebraska, portions of interstates 80 and 76 were closed, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation, with highway closures spreading east with the snowfall.
In South Dakota, transportation officials closed both eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 90 from Chamberlain to Rapid City due to freezing rain, heavy snow and high winds, with additional closures coming Tuesday afternoon. Some secondary highways were also impassable, the agency said.
One trooper in South Dakota showed off nearly 1-inch thick ice covering his patrol car’s antenna.
An Ice Storm Warning is in effect from eastern South Dakota into southwestern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa due to the potential for a quarter- to half-inch of ice accretion. Freezing rain was falling in eastern South Dakota on Tuesday morning along the Interstate 29 corridor as the winter storm continued its trek across the north.
A wintry scene from the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls showed the building covered in ice.
The Utah Highway Patrol said troopers have responded to about 100 crashes since midnight.
“We have also made several traffic stops with drivers going extremely too fast in these winter weather conditions. 102…96…93…91…90 Poor decisions result in bad consequences, make the choice to drive slower,” troopers tweeted Tuesday morning.
HOW MUCH ICE IS NEEDED TO KNOCK OUT POWER, DAMAGE TREES?
Power outages in Lake Tahoe, California, and the surrounding area were reported Monday, according to local utility providers. This comes after the National Weather Service in Reno recorded a three-day total of nearly 60 inches of snowfall in the area.
“The rest of the week looks to be quiet on the snow front, but cold, and well below normal temperatures can be expected,” the NWS said.
WHAT MAKES A BLIZZARD DIFFERENT FROM AN ORDINARY SNOWSTORM?