WINTER WEATHER Updated Jan. 18, 2020 8:18 AM
Blizzard warnings and winter storm warnings heralded the arrival of icy roads that would plague residents across the central Plains throughout the day on Friday. After a slick blanket of snow and ice latched itself to roadways, travel hazards and mishaps quickly followed.
Snow accumulations reached up to 7 inches in parts of Iowa by Friday night and 1-5 inches in parts of central Nebraska, western Iowa and spots of Missouri. According to the National Weather Service office in Kansas City (Missouri), some roads were rendered 'nearly impassible' by the precipitation Friday morning.
"Tomorrow morning there could be ice on untreated roads as temperatures drop well below freezing around sunrise. Drive safely tomorrow especially when off the beaten path," the office warned Friday night in a tweet.
Friday evening in Iowa, a pickup truck on I-80 in Western Iowa slid off the road and came hurtling toward a delivery truck, a state trooper and the truck driver. A video had been captured of the incident form the inside of the delivery truck.
Shocking video today from a delivery truck on I-80 in Western Iowa. The AMCON Distributing driver, State Trooper, & occupants in the pickup truck were not seriously injured.
If you have to be out driving during inclement weather- slow down and be aware of the road conditions.
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In Lee's Summit, Missouri, located about 20 miles away from Kansas City, a firetruck rolled over in the early morning due to icy roads.
Our firefighters are safe! Pumper 5 encountered icy road conditions on SW Ward Rd & rolled onto its side. No injuries & no other vehicles involved. Pumper 5 was returning to Station 5 on 150 Hwy after providing coverage at another station that was out fighting a structure fire.
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On Friday morning, the Missouri Highway Patrol Troop A unit reported several stranded motorists, more than two dozen non-injury crashes and at least four traffic wrecks that resulted in injuries.
Travelers and workers at the Kansas City International Airport also felt the hardship of icy conditions on Friday morning, when the airfield was forced to close for multiple hours until 9 a.m. CST. Shortly before shutting down, a departing Delta flight skidded off the runway. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.
Earlier this week, Delta issued a travel waiver for travelers planning to catch flights through the impacted cities.
By Friday evening, over 600 flights at Chicago O'Hare International Airport had been cancelled and about another 350 flights delayed.
Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden was forced to cancel two campaign events on Friday in Iowa. According to Fox 42, Biden was scheduled to be in Sioux City around noon and in Council Bluffs Friday evening. By late Friday afternoon, areas around Sioux City saw around 3 to 4 inches of snow. Farther south and east, locations around the Des Moines area had picked up anywhere from about 4 to 7 inches of snow.
Biden's official campaign website listed another event in the state on Saturday at Simpson College in Indianola. His campaign seized on the inclement weather as a fundraising opportunity.
Late on Friday afternoon, the campaign sent possible donors an email from Jill Biden, the candidate's wife, with the subject line, "It's snowing in Iowa." The email went on to mention how the snow and ice that hit the Hawkeye state on Friday slowed down campaign activities.
"[W]ith just 17 days until the Iowa Caucuses, we can't let the weather slow this campaign down," the message read, before recounting details about brushes with winter weather the campaign experienced earlier this week.
A screenshot of the email the Biden campaign sent to potential donors on Friday as winter weather hampered staffers' ability to work the ground game. (AccuWeather)
Fellow Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren was also scheduled to campaign in Iowa on Friday, but there was no immediate word on whether the event in Newton with the senator would be canceled, or whether she would be attending impeachment proceedings on Capitol Hill.
The storm is unfolding at a crucial time for candidates with the Iowa Caucuses scheduled for Feb. 3.
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By the Kansas-Nebraska border, multiple locations also reported at least 3 inches of snow. Near Hastings, Nebraska, light snow was observed falling for five hours early Friday morning, setting up for a disastrous morning commute.
According to the Nebraska State Patrol, several accidents around Interstate 80 kept first responders busy throughout Friday morning.
Deteriorating road conditions in Nebraska caused multiple crashes on Friday morning. (Twitter/ @NSP_TroopC)
The impending storm also forced widespread school closures across Nebraska. According to KETV, there are 258 active closings or delays in the state. In Kansas, 164 school districts were either closed or delayed on Friday, according to KAKE.
The combination of snow and high winds also brought travel to a standstill across the Upper Midwest.
Video shared by Minnesota State Patrol Public Information Officer Sgt. Jesse Grabow showed cars stuck in blizzardlike conditions in western Minnesota near the town of Moorhead in Clay County. Grabow later shared an image of cars stuck in heavy snow on State Highway 10 between Glyndon and Dilworth.
Poor visibility was reported in the area, and lanes on the highway were expected to stay closed for several hours.
State Highway 10 in western Minnesota was closed for a time on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. (Photo/Minnesota State Patrol PIO Jesse Grabow)
According to the flight tracking service FlightAware.com, there were nearly 600 flight cancellations in the United States as of 11 a.m. CST Friday.
AccuWeather forecasters say ice will continue to spread from the central Plains into the western Ohio Valley by Friday evening, but snow will fall across the Upper Midwest Saturday as the storm makes its way into the Northeast.
The hardest-hit areas for additional icing appear to be across central and northern Missouri into west-central Illinois where there can be 0.10-0.25 of an inch of ice accretion, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.
The NWS in St. Louis said ice was accumulating rapidly in central Missouri and impacted the I-70 corridor as the afternoon progressed.
An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 16 inches of snow is forecast for northeastern Minnesota, with much of the Midwest expected to receive a swath of 6-12 inches of snow.
Harsh cold will once again pour into the region following the storm.
AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures will plummet to below minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit across stretches of the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa by Sunday.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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