A storm hit the Great Lakes region Friday night, closing highways on one of the biggest travel days of the year in the US.
Communities along the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario – in New York state, Pennsylvania and Ohio – were left covered in snow, with the National Weather Service (NWS) urging residents to stay indoors.
About 30 inches of snow had already fallen in areas near Lake Erie, the NWS said Saturday, with up to 6 feet of snow predicted to accumulate on Monday.
As the snow piled up, the Arctic blast moved through the Northern Plains and Midwest, pushing bone-chilling air into the region.
From Minnesota to Texas, temperatures were expected to drop by double-digits as a cold front swept over the warm Great Lakes, bringing the season’s first snowfall.
Common during the winter in this part of the U.S. and Canada, sea ice occurs when cold air moves over the warm waters of lakes.
These types of storms can cause large – even localized – amounts of snow.
“Roads, especially bridges and overpasses, will likely be slippery and hazardous,” the NWS said in a forecast Saturday morning, adding that visibility could drop below a quarter mile due to falling and blowing snow. Whiteout conditions are expected in places across the state, the NWS warned.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has declared a state of emergency in 11 of New York’s 62 counties due to the storm. He told Spectrum News on Friday that government officials are “extremely prepared”.
“We’re used to this type of storm,” Hochul said. “We don’t like it, but it’s part of who we are as New Yorkers, especially in western New York and the North Country.”
“There will be areas of land that will be paralyzed from the lake snow and other areas that will be severely impacted,” the National Weather Service in New York said.
Road closures in the region included a section of Interstate 90 in Pennsylvania, disrupting commuters between Cleveland, Ohio and Buffalo, New York during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, following the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
According to AAA, the automobile association, about 80 million people were expected to go to Thanksgiving this year.