Posted on 12/01/2006 11:51:59 AM PST by NormsRevenge
CHICAGO - The season's first major snowstorm marched across the Plains and Midwest on Friday, slopping up highways, shuttering schools and knocking out power to more than 2 million homes and businesses.
A plane slid off a runway in Chicago, and at least three deaths were blamed on the storm, which was moving northwest through Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin on a path to Canada.
Fifteen inches of snow was reported in Peru, 80 miles west of Chicago, and Kenosha, Wis., had more than 16 inches.
Charles Parker, 38, happily operated his snow blower in Milwaukee.
"I just got this baby and I've been waiting to break it in," he said. "From the looks of things, it'll get a lot of use."
In Missouri, Holly Foster said she was the only employee who had made it in to Gov. Matt Blunt's office by 8 a.m.
"My husband loves a challenge," she said.
The wintry system struck Thursday from Texas to Michigan, forcing the closure of thousands of schools, colleges and universities and state offices. Snow had moved mostly into Michigan and eastern Wisconsin by early afternoon, leaving behind downed power lines and icy roads and runways.
About 2.4 million customers across central and southern Illinois and parts of Missouri were without power early Friday after ice snapped tree limbs and power lines. St. Louis officials opened five warm-up centers, and utility officials warned that it would be days before all customers have electricity again.
"A lot of people are going to have to leave their homes," said Ron Zdellar, Ameren Corp.'s vice president.
A Fed Ex cargo plane arriving Friday morning at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport slipped off the runway into mud, and crews were working to tow it away. By noon, more than 450 flights were canceled there alone.
Three traffic deaths were reported Thursday, including two in Missouri.
The weather delayed state high school football playoffs in Oklahoma, where snowfall ranged up to a foot.
A gust of up to 50 miles an hour toppled a tree onto a mobile home in Greencastle, Ind., 40 miles west of Indianapolis.
Jennifer Stark with the National Weather Service in Topeka, Kan., said the storm seemed especially impressive because of the unseasonably mild weather that came before it. Temperatures in some places had reached record highs earlier in the week.
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Associated Press writers Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Mo., and Rochelle Hines in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
Sen Inhofe is right about global warming and Gore and his minions are wrong! We are freezing here in OK -- everytime the Dims talk about global warming we get hit here especially when Gore opens his mouth!
Me too. But this time I'm waiting for the last of the leaves from my neighbors tree to fall before cleaning it out.
Never verb nouns.
I'm SOOOOOO GLAD that we left Chi-town and headed back south LAST week.
Websters, 1977
Closure
n The act of closing;an end or conclusion;that which closes or shuts; cloture.
Math: the characteristic of being mathematically closed.
Modern dictionaries are a moving feast of degenerating standards wherein everybody is left satiated but unfed.
That's why I moved to Georgia.
From the article: "People collected the chips, which were apparently still fresh due to their airtight packaging."
LOL! Gotta love technology!
"I'm in upstate NY near Lake Ontario. We're waiting!!"
Well I'm in Canandaigua and it's a 'balmy' 52.
And I'm not looking forward to snow.
It's very warm but it's raining.
It's supposed to get seasonal tonight.
We're in Rochelle, about 70 miles straight West of Chicago. I measured 15" in the flat, open lawn area outside the house. Thankfully, the snow blower worked, although the snow was higher than the cowling and had to be worked with a shovel before we could blow it.
We had 3 vehicles get stuck at the corner we live on, one being the snow plow; another a 4x4 pickup. My wife didn't have to drive to DeKalb to work because no one else could get in, so she got approval to close the store for the day.
This was like one of the old 'big ones' I remember from years ago. It's all global warming's fault!!
Lief is blaming Bush's weather machine.
http://www.myspace.com/hippy100
Beer in cans floats. Pioneer speakers don't. |
http://www.myspace.com/hippy100
My God, can this guy really be serious? I mean it almost looks like a gag site, he fits every know leftist kook stereotype there is.
This guy consumed way too much window pane in the 60s.
Lived in Canandaigua during the summer for many years.
This morning, some ditzy on-location reporterette on one of the Tulsa news stations announced confidently that because the temperature wouldn't be above 32 degrees there would be NO snow melting today at all, regardless of the sunshine.
When they cut back to the news set, the weatherdude mostly agreed with her.
I've been around a few years, and I've often seen snow melting from solar radiation when the air temp is below 32.
"Lived in Canandaigua during the summer for many years."
Where'd ya live in the winter?
:0)
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