Blizzard to evolve over central US into the weekend
A new storm moving into the central United States will have the potential to shut down travel due to heavy snow, strong winds, extensive blowing and drifting snow and plummeting temperatures.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Alright, a blizzard is going to unfold across the Great Lakes State tomorrow.
00:03 I want to make sure we understand exactly what a blizzard is.
00:07 It is a unique set of criteria that must be met for it to be a full-fledged blizzard.
00:14 Snow and blowing snow producing visibilities of a quarter mile or less.
00:19 You have to have wind gusts or sustained winds of at least 35 miles per hour.
00:24 And you must get these conditions for at least three hours.
00:29 These conditions will be met in this area tomorrow afternoon, beginning tomorrow afternoon,
00:35 northern Missouri and in eastern Iowa.
00:38 And then later tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow night into Saturday, across much of Wisconsin,
00:43 Illinois and Michigan.
00:45 If you live in these areas within the blue, including cities like Chicago, Green Bay,
00:52 Traverse City, Saginaw, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Peoria, Rockford and Des Moines, you should
00:59 not be out on the roads during this time frame.
01:02 You're putting your life in danger because there's going to be whiteouts.
01:06 Travel conditions will be next to impossible.
01:08 Extensive blowing and drifting of snow as well.
01:12 Now here comes the snow around Omaha, around Des Moines and Sioux Falls as we head into
01:19 our Thursday night.
01:20 Blizzards are not underway here.
01:21 Then Friday morning, here comes our storm across Missouri.
01:25 Snow starts picking up here from Rochester, Minnesota toward Des Moines.
01:30 Also Quad Cities, Dubuque and now in the northwestern parts of Illinois.
01:34 Chicago, I think you're going to get a mixture of rain and snow in the city tomorrow afternoon,
01:39 late tomorrow morning into tomorrow afternoon.
01:41 This is when the blizzard unfolds.
01:42 The center of the storm will be just south of South Bend.
01:46 Here comes the winds ramping up on the west side.
01:49 So here we go with the full-fledged blizzard.
01:51 I think across southeastern Minnesota, eastern Iowa, northwestern Illinois.
01:56 The worst of the storm coming to Chicago tomorrow evening as the storm pushes across Michigan
02:01 and continues to strengthen.
02:04 This is the height of the storm here for Green Bay into Chicago.
02:08 Then the storm starts to move away Saturday morning.
02:10 But I do want to stress that the winds in this area will continue to howl Saturday night
02:16 or I should say late Friday night through the day on Saturday with extensive blowing
02:21 and drifting of snow.
02:22 Des Moines, Green Bay, Omaha, you're looking at 6 to 12 inches of snow.
02:27 That includes the Chicago area.
02:29 Detroit you're going to have a mix of 3 to 6 inches.
02:31 That will be 3 to 6 inches just south of the Indiana State Toll Road and in the central
02:36 parts of Illinois as well.
02:38 Over a foot of snow we think across most of Michigan.
02:42 And again, extensive blowing and drifting of snow and a full-fledged blizzard.
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