Whiteout Chaos As Winter Storm Blasts The Midwest
More than 120,000 customers were still without power early Tuesday morning as a powerful snowstorm continues to pummel the Midwest. Nearly half of those power outages were in Michigan, according to PowerOutage.us. More than 20,000 customers lost power in New York as the storm, named Ezra by The Weather Channel, pushed into the Northeast.
The blinding snow and high winds led to crashes and pileups in multiple states. In Michigan, Interstate 75 was partially shut down in Detroit after 25 separate crashes involving 59 cars and semi trucks, according to Michigan State Police. No injuries were reported and the highway was reopened late Monday morning.
In northern Iowa, a crash involving as many as 14 vehicles occurred in snowy conditions Sunday along Interstate 35, on Monday, the road remained closed from Ames to the Minnesota state line — a stretch of highway about 100 miles long.
(MORE: What’s Next For Winter Storm Ezra)
In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz authorized the National Guard to support emergency winter storm operations. Snow totals reached 7 inches in some areas near the Twin Cities.
Areas of far northern Wisconsin totaled up to a foot of snow, and the city of Marquette, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, saw 24 inches of snow Monday, the highest totals of the winter storm so far.
Driving is expected to be treacherous across the region, so if you’re heading home from the holidays or are commuting for any other reason, it’s best to take it slow and check road conditions ahead of time to make sure there aren’t any closures.
Some high wind warnings remained in effect Tuesday morning, and warnings for heavy lake effect snow will stay in place in the eastern Great Lakes snowbelts for the next several days, according to Weather.com senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman.
And behind the winter storm is a sharp cold front that will bring dangerous wind chills to the Northern Plains and a reality check to parts of the South that have been far warmer than average since Christmas.
