The Latest: Wintry weather affects Chicago, Denver flights
CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on powerful holiday weekend storm (all times local):
2:45 p.m.
Airlines at Chicago’s two major international airports are reporting average delays of 15 minutes as a winter storm heads toward the Midwest with heavy snow and ice and gusty winds.
The companies have canceled 27 flights at O’Hare and two at Midway as people scramble to get home on the year’s busiest travel weekend.
There were 100 flights canceled Saturday and another 182 delayed at Denver International Airport because of winds.
The winter storm is also bedeviling motorists around the U.S. as it dumps heavy snow from parts of California to the northern Midwest and drenches other areas with rain.
A 5-year-old boy died in Arizona after a vehicle was swept away while attempting to cross a runoff-swollen creek. A storm-related death also was reported in South Dakota.
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11:50 a.m.
Back-to-back snowstorms and strong winds have combined to make travel difficult to impossible across much of Wyoming as wintry causes serious complications for post-Thanksgiving holiday travel while a powerful storm moves east toward the Midwest.
Roads were closed Saturday across eastern and southern Wyoming due to whiteout conditions.
The National Weather Service in Wyoming reports 4 inches (10 centimeters) of snow fell in Cheyenne from 7 p.m. Friday through 10 a.m. Saturday on top of a foot (30 centimeters) of snow that fell before Thanksgiving. Wind gusts up to 50 mph (80 kph) created ground blizzards.
Meteorologist Andrew Lyons says a wind gust of 77 mph (124 kph) was reported in the mountains between Cheyenne and Laramie. All roads in and out of Casper were closed Saturday morning, including the entire 300 mile stretch of Interstate 25 in Wyoming.
Farther east, blizzard conditions Saturday are buffeting the High Plains and around Duluth.
One storm-related death is reported in South Dakota and three children are missing in Arizona.
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11:30 a.m.
National weather officials say wintry weather is causing serious complications for post-Thanksgiving holiday travel as a powerful storm moves eastward, bringing heavy snow and strong winds to the U.S., especially across the northern Midwest.
Blizzard conditions Saturday are buffeting the High Plains and around Duluth.
Farther south, rain and thunderstorms are forecast along and ahead of the cold front, with locally heavy rainfall possible Saturday in parts of the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys.
Forecasters say a new storm is expected to bring California several feet of mountain snow, rain and gusty winds through the weekend.
Another system is forecast to develop in the mid-Atlantic Sunday, moving as a nor’easter into Monday.
One storm-related death is reported in South Dakota and three children are missing in Arizona.
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10:55 a.m.
Authorities in central Arizona are searching for three children missing after a vehicle was swept away while attempting to cross a runoff-swollen creek amid dangerous, wintry weather that bedeviled drivers across large swaths of the western U.S. over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Gila County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday four other children and two adults who were in the vehicle swept away in Tonto Creek have been rescued from a small island and the bank of the creek in Tonto National Park northeast of Phoenix.
A powerful storm from California is moving east toward the Midwest, where it is expected to bring intensifying snow and ice during the year’s busiest travel weekend.
One weather-related death was reported in South Dakota.
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7 a.m.
A powerful storm making its way east from California is expected to bring intensifying snow and ice to the Midwest during the year’s busiest travel weekend.
The National Weather Service says the storm is expected to drop 6 to 12 inches of snow from the northern Plains states into Minnesota, Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
High winds and ice are expected to make travel almost impossible in some places.
Before moving east, the storm caused the death of at least one person in South Dakota and closed highways in the western U.S., affecting travelers over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Forecasters warn that people traveling throughout the weekend should be aware of the storm’s effects.
The storm is expected to hit northeastern states on Sunday, bringing freezing rain and snow.