Winter travel warnings: heavy snow threatens to cancel flights, close roads - NPR

An hose rider walks betwixt thrust stock vehicles aft arriving astatine Chicago's Midway Airport conscionable days earlier a large wintertime tempest Tuesday, Dec. 20, successful Chicago. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP hide caption

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Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

An hose rider walks betwixt thrust stock vehicles aft arriving astatine Chicago's Midway Airport conscionable days earlier a large wintertime tempest Tuesday, Dec. 20, successful Chicago.

Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

Millions of Americans whitethorn privation to reconsider their vacation question plans, arsenic bitter cold, biting upwind and dense snowfall are expected crossed the U.S. this week, imposing treacherous conditions conscionable days earlier Christmas.

A bulletin from the National Weather Service (NWS) says a "strong arctic precocious unit system," was sweeping down from Canada connected Tuesday and appears poised to march towards the Great Plains, the Midwest and onto the Southeast connected Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, bringing life-threatening blizzard conditions and acold upwind systems crossed 17 states.

Heavy snowfall and constricted visibility caused Vancouver International Airport to temporarily unopen down Tuesday, stranding scores of passengers. That could beryllium a motion of things to travel for vacation travelers successful the U.S., arsenic the frigid upwind strategy moves crossed the state this week.

A antheral clears a driveway aft a snowfall tempest passed done bluish Minnesota past week. Forecasters accidental different large tempest is expected to deed the portion this week. Holden Law/AP hide caption

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Holden Law/AP

A antheral clears a driveway aft a snowfall tempest passed done bluish Minnesota past week. Forecasters accidental different large tempest is expected to deed the portion this week.

Holden Law/AP

At slightest 250 flights into and retired of the Seattle-Tacoma airdrome were cancelled Tuesday arsenic dense snowfall fell there, according to the tracking tract Flight Aware. The Cascade Mountains successful Washington authorities were seeing the heaviest snowfall connected Tuesday, but adjacent lowlands successful Idaho, Montana and Wyoming could spot a ft of snow, according to the NWS. The portion could spot different blast of snowfall and crystal connected Thursday.

The incoming arctic beforehand volition past transverse implicit the bluish Rockies, Great Basin and Northern Plains regions, sending temperatures plummeting arsenic debased arsenic minus 30 degrees, with winds gusting astatine up to 60 mph.

Snow is apt to determination into parts of Nebraska, Kansas, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin connected Wednesday. By Thursday, blizzard conditions could deed the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions, including Chicago, perchance causing important formation delays and cancellation astatine O'Hare International Airport, 1 of the nation's biggest hose hubs. The large question hub cities of Denver, Salt Lake City and Minneapolis are expected to beryllium impacted, too.

For the eastbound U.S., dense rainfall connected Tuesday and Wednesday could effect successful snowfall oregon sleet successful the Appalachian states connected Thursday.

The National Weather Service somesthesia representation for Tuesday. NWS hide caption

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NWS

By Friday, temperatures could deed the season's lowest successful what is lone the archetypal week of winter. Even bluish Florida cities similar Jacksonville and Tallahassee could spot a chill arsenic debased arsenic 20 F connected Christmas Eve.

Most large airlines, including United, American, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest, are offering to waive alteration fees and fare differences for those wanting to alteration flights truthful they tin question earlier oregon aft the storm, wrong tiny rebooking windows.

"That allows travelers who person tickets present and passim the vacation week to instrumentality a look and reconsider," says Kathleen Bangs, spokesperson of the tracking tract FlightAware.com. "Reconsider what time you privation to spell on, possibly reconsider the way if you person a connecting city, and reconsider perchance conscionable changing that summons to aboriginal connected successful the week oregon adjacent banking that summons for aboriginal use."

Her proposal to each travelers this clip of year:

"You truly request to person a backup plan" Bangs says. "And that could mean thing from a secondary summons connected a antithetic hose that leaves aboriginal successful the time oregon possibly the adjacent morning. It means a reroute done different metropolis wherever possibly you get wrong a mates 100 miles of your destination and past you rent a car oregon you instrumentality a train."

Bangs says that successful this upwind there's a accidental immoderate formation could beryllium canceled astatine immoderate time, and it whitethorn beryllium hard to get a clasp of a typical from an airline.

AAA says of the 113 cardinal Americans traveling this vacation season, much than 90% of them volition beryllium driving. And with forecasts calling for blowing and drifting snow, arsenic good arsenic whiteout conditions successful immoderate parts, they should proceed with utmost caution, forecasters say.

"Low visibility volition make adjacent much unsafe question conditions connected apical of snowfall covered roadways," the NWS says. "Additionally, the beardown winds could pb to imaginable powerfulness outages from the Midwest to the Northeast."

"It is imperative that travelers cheque the latest forecast earlier venturing out."

Buffalo Bills fans braved chilly temperatures to beryllium successful snow-covered seats during an NFL crippled successful Orchard Park, N.Y., connected Saturday. Adrian Kraus/AP hide caption

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Adrian Kraus/AP

Buffalo Bills fans braved chilly temperatures to beryllium successful snow-covered seats during an NFL crippled successful Orchard Park, N.Y., connected Saturday.

Adrian Kraus/AP

An outage that near 180,000 without powerfulness crossed New England implicit the play was resolved by Monday, but the Associated Press reported that attempts to bring other inferior workers into the authorities up of this week's tempest were stymied by slick roads.

Police crossed New England besides said they responded to hundreds of crashes and stranded vehicles, according to section media reports.

Frostbite is different hazard for those trying to brave the cold, the NWS says. Subzero temperatures successful immoderate parts of the U.S. this week could pb to frostbite connected exposed tegument successful arsenic small arsenic 10 minutes.

Those venturing extracurricular should formal successful layers, screen their tegument and alteration into adust covering arsenic soon arsenic possible. But, experts say, the champion prevention by acold is simply to enactment indoors.