Winter is coming in the United States, and it’s hitting the Midwest first.
The first blizzard of the year pummeled Minnesota and North and South Dakota on Friday, bringing 30-40mph winds, snow, and icy temperatures.
“The snow and wind will gradually taper off toward the noon hour and into the afternoon,” the National Weather Service said early on Friday morning. “Before then expect areas of blowing snow and low visibility, especially over the Prairie Coteau.”
Footage from storm-chasers on Friday morning showed nearly total white-out conditions near Summit, South Dakota. Meanwhile, the NWS warned that winds were strong enough to tip over trucks and other vehicles.
“Heads up if driving a high-profile vehicle!” NWS Aberdeen tweeted, attaching some photos of overturned trucks in South Dakota. “Very strong northwest winds will continue tonight into Friday morning, before decreasing through the afternoon Friday.”
The NWS has announced a blizzard warning for most of northeast South Dakota, where two to six inches of snow and winds as strong as 60mph are expected.
And the storm is not limited to the Midwest. According to CNN, the swirling weather system is expected to make its way from Omaha, Nebraska to New York City, where heavy rain was already falling on Friday and expected to last into the weekend.
“Active weather is impacting wide swaths of the US today,” the NWS warned. “Heavy snow & high winds are creating areas of blizzard conditions in the Upper Midwest. Showers extend along a cold front slowly moving across the East.”
Across the Northeast, the NWS predicted huge amounts of rain, warning that some streets in Boston could be flooded by the end of Friday.
“A 2-4 hour period of heavy rain, gusty winds and a few embedded t-storms are expected later today,” NWS Boston cautioned. “Poor drainage street flooding, southerly wind gusts of 35-50 mph and even the low risk for isolated severe weather/localized damaging wind gusts.”
On Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released an ominous-looking animation of all the weather activity swirling across North America.
“It’s an active weather day across the US, with a coastal storm drenching the Pacific NW, a winter storm hitting the Upper Midwest, and thunderstorms rumbling around the Southeast,” the NOAA said. “Stay safe!”
