As tornadoes ripped through the South, more than a foot of snow was dumped over parts of the Midwest, making for a post-Christmas travel nightmare. NBC's Mike Seidel reports.
By Alastair Jamieson, NBC News
A winter storm that has caused destruction and holiday travel disruption across the central United States?swept into the Northeast early Thursday, where it was expected to bring up to 2 feet of snow, drenching rain and possible flooding.
The major weather system has already brought record snowfall, icy roads, deadly high winds and even twisters to the nation?s midsection, leaving at least six dead.
It is now ?taking aim on the eastern Great Lakes and Northeast with heavy snow, coastal rain and gusty winds,? Weather Channel meteorologist Michael Palmer told NBC News.?Gusts of up to 60 mph are also possible.
Read more at weather.com
?The heaviest snow will fall from western New York through the Adirondacks into Vermont, New Hampshire and northern Maine.?
More than 350 flights had been canceled Thursday morning, following the grounding of more than 1,600 the day before, Erica Hill of NBC's TODAY reported. Across the country, there were "thousands of passengers stranded by a backlog of canceled flights," TODAY reported, adding that more than 9,300 flights had been canceled since the storm began.
Where there isn?t snow, there will be torrential rain: From coastal New Jersey into southeast Massachusetts, localized urban flooding is possible with minor to moderate coastal flooding.
In New Jersey, flooding and high winds forced the closure of parts of Brick Township, local officials told the Weather Channel's Mike Seidel.
Showers and thunderstorms will hit the Southeast while residents in the Northeast can expect snow over the weekend. The Weather Channel's Kelly Cass reports.
Across most of the country, it will be colder than normal as arctic air dominates.
The storm pushed through the Upper Ohio Valley and made its way into the Northeast Wednesday night. Within hours, there was anywhere from a few inches of snow to a dozen in some locations.
Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed on Wednesday and scores of motorists got stuck on icy roads or slid into drifts.
John Kwiatkowski, an Indianapolis-based meteorologist with the weather service, said: "The way I've been describing it is as a low-end blizzard, but that's sort of like saying a small Tyrannosaurus rex."
The storm system spawned Gulf Coast region tornadoes on Christmas Day, startling people like Bob and Sherry Sims of Mobile, Alal., who had just finished dinner.
"We heard that very distinct sound, like a freight train," said Bob Sims. They headed for a bathroom in the center of their house.
Power was still out at the Sims' home on Wednesday, but the house wasn't damaged and they used a generator to run heaters to stay warm. Some neighbors were less fortunate, their roofs peeled away and porches smashed by falling trees.
On one of the busiest travel days of the year, bad weather has forced airlines to cancel or delay flights. NBC's Katy Tur reports.
The storm also left freezing temperatures in its aftermath, and forecasters said parts of the Southeast from Virginia to Florida saw severe thunderstorms.
Read more at weather.com
About 40 vehicles got bogged down trying to make it up a slick hill in central Indiana, and four state snowplows slid off roads as snow fell at the rate of 3 inches an hour in some places.
Two passengers in a car on a sleet-slickened Arkansas highway were killed Wednesday in a head-on collision, and two people, including a 76-year-old Milwaukee woman, were killed Tuesday on Oklahoma highways. Deaths from wind-toppled trees were reported in Texas and Louisiana.?
The Weather Channel's?Michael Palmer and?The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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