Spring Blizzard Set to Strike Great Plains, Midwest
A potentially record-breaking storm is squeezing the warmth from spring as it brings snow and howling winds across the Great Plains and threatens to flood rivers from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
The giant system, set to strengthen April 10, has sparked blizzard warnings from Colorado to Minnesota and could drop more than two feet of snow in South Dakota and as much as 8 inches in Minneapolis, the National Weather Service said. Severe thunderstorms will hit Texas and the Mississippi Valley. The system threatens to delay wheat and corn planting.
Parts of 6 states are under #Blizzard Warnings with FEET of #snow possible as #WinterStormWesley tracks across the U.S. We are LIVE now with crews in the field and studio with the latest conditions and forecast. pic.twitter.com/iq92Bw1z2Z — The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) April 10, 2019
“It is pretty extensive,” David Roth, a senior branch forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center, said by telephone.
The storm, which will pack near-record low pressure, could be on par with the massive system that triggered flooding across Nebraska and Iowa last month. Snow and rain already are falling across the Great Plains and Midwest. The storm will build over Wyoming on April 10, cross Nebraska on April 11 and then hit Minneapolis, said Rob Carolan, owner of Hometown Forecast Services.
Farther south, the storm will push dry winds across Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas — raising risk for wildfires.
The Mississippi River already is at moderate-to-major flood stage in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. The Red River is at major flood stage in Fargo, N.D.
There's going to be a southeast to northwest divide across the region. In the metro: we're looking at a back & forth rain/snow mix which will cut our totals. You won't see 6" on the ground at one time: few inches tonight, few more tomorrow night, mix tmwr: pic.twitter.com/GTVvfF81kq — Sven Sundgaard (@svensundgaard) April 10, 2019
“Because the Mississippi is flooding — none of this is welcome,” Roth said.
Nonetheless, the Mississippi should be able to handle this week’s storm, because water levels are falling, said Matt Roe, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans. The Corps has begun to close the Bonnet Carre spillway upstream from New Orleans, designed to prevent flooding.
High water has restricted Mississippi barge traffic to daylight and has limited the amount of freight that can be hauled, said Austin Golding, president of Golding Barge Line in Vicksburg, Miss. Right now, the river is entirely navigable, but the hardest parts to traverse are the bridges in Vicksburg and Baton Rouge.
“May will be nasty if it gets hot up north and the snow melt accelerates after this winter system they are encountering now,” Golding said.
Big changes in the next 24 hours! Temperatures drop, winds howl and snow falls heavily! Be ready - trust Denver7 and our First Alert Weather Team! @DenverChannel #cowx #Blizzard pic.twitter.com/7B3yC9pjUr — Mike Nelson (@MikeNelson247) April 10, 2019
This system’s icy reach won’t extend to Chicago, which will get rain and have a low of 39 Fahrenheit on April 10 before temperatures rebound into the 60s by April 11. Detroit and Toronto also will be spared, Carolan said.
As the storm passes, weather will whiplash between extremes in many places. On April 9, Denver’s temperature reached 78 degrees. April 10, however, the city is under a blizzard warning with readings set to plunge to 21, the weather service said. Cheyenne, Wyo., will go from 71 on April 9 to 18 degrees late April 10.
