Heavy, wet snow – part of the storm system that spawned tornadoes in the Houston area – blanketed roads, vehicles, homes and buildings Wednesday from central and northern Indiana through the rest of the country. large southeastern Michigan.
Maddi Johnson of the National Weather Service in northern Indiana said about 6 inches of snow will fall in the Detroit area, while 4 inches is reported before noon in eastern Indiana, just southwest of Fort Wayne.
Weather forecasters said Wednesday’s storm is expected to bring damaging winds to parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. The National Weather Service says winter weather advisories extend from southern Missouri to Maine, with areas in New England expected to see 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 centimeters) of snow. ).
Fort Wayne, Indiana, has seen many road crashes due to snowfall.
Johnson added: “People are sliding off the highway exits. “They’re just driving too fast for the conditions.”
In northern Indianapolis, several power outages have been reported in Hamilton County due to wet snow accumulating on power lines, said meteorologist Gregory Melo of the Indianapolis weather services office.
Indianapolis recorded 2.8 inches around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, and while the snow is still falling, it’s expected to stop by early afternoon. Total snowfall is forecast for 5 to 8 inches in north and northeast Indianapolis mid to late afternoon.
“This is one of the first major snowfalls we’ve had,” said Scott Cabauatan, deputy director of public services in Wayne County, which includes Detroit. “This amount of snowfall causes concern from the perspective that it is heavy, wet snow compared to lighter snow.”
Cabauatan said the teams will roughly clear customs on a typical stretch of road just under 5,000 lanes. “We will have about 100 equipment and operators working” at any given time to spread salt and clear ice from the roads, he added.
Snow forecast for the weekend and weekend. “We expected it to take days to finish work here and in the vans,” Cabauatan said.
Schools and businesses remained closed Wednesday in parts of Oklahoma, which saw 1 to 6 inches (3 to 15 centimeters) of total snowfall across central and eastern parts of the state. More than 160,000 homes and businesses were without power Wednesday morning in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri after heavy snow fell in the Ozarks a day earlier.
On Tuesday, forecasters issued a rare tornado emergency for the Houston area as the storm system moved through the densely populated area. Significant damage was reported in cities east of Houston, but no injuries were reported.
In Louisiana, three people suffered “mild to moderate injuries” when their mobile homes were flipped or destroyed after a tornado hit the Morel Lane area north of Baton Rouge, the Sheriff’s Office Pointe Coupee Parish said.
In Texas, several businesses in Pasadena, east of Houston, suffered heavy damage, including the city’s animal shelter.
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Homeowner reports from Wayne, Michigan. Associated Press writers Jill Bleed of Little Rock, Arkansas, David Phillip of Pasadena, Texas, and Sean Murphy of Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
