Winter storm rakes Midwest with snow, freezing rain

People across the Midwest are digging out from the snow after a big storm passed through, resulting in difficult commutes and school closures. NBC's John Yang reports.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

A winter storm raked the Great Lakes states Friday, contributing to dozens of car crashes, and headed for the Northeast, which braced for its third straight weekend of significant snow.

The Weather Channel said parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan would end up with as much as 6 inches of snow.

In Minnesota alone, the State Patrol said there were 124 crashes during the morning commute, killing one driver and injuring 23, NBC affiliate KARE in Minneapolis reported.

Ice complicated travel in Ohio. In Cleveland, a United Airlines 737 skidded off the runway into grass and snow after landing from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. There were no reported injuries, and the passengers were taken by bus to the terminal.

The runway was in good condition at the time of the landing, said Jacqueline Mayo, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland airport. Freezing rain had just moved out of the area.

The winter storm is expected to move into the Northeast and deliver a third straight weekend of significant snow. Interior sections of New England could get as much as a foot.

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Crews in Massachusetts, which has already exhausted its $45 million storm budget, readied piles of salt and sand and thousands of pieces of equipment, NBC affiliate WHDH in Boston reported.

Full coverage from weather.com

On Thursday, as the storm hammered the Plains, a United regional jet from Denver got stuck in the snow after landing at the airport in Wichita, Kan. Workers tried to clear a path so that buses could collect the passengers, but the tarmac was too slick, and the plane was stuck for about two hours.

Passengers said that flight attendants passed out cookies and that passengers and crew stayed upbeat.

Record snowfall in Wichita, Kansas, creates havoc at the airport where crews had to dig out a plane stuck on the tarmac. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

"By far the most entertaining delay I've ever had in my life," passenger Joshua Locke said. "This has just been laughable to me."

Wichita reported 14.2 inches of snow, the second-largest total on record there. More remote parts of Kansas got 18 inches. Omaha, Neb., reported 8 inches and Sioux City, Iowa, 10 inches.

On Friday, O?Hare airport in Chicago reported delays of an hour and a half, and Cincinnati reported more than 45 minutes. The airport in Kansas City, shut down earlier this week in heavy snow, reopened, but most morning flights were delayed. A handful of flights remained cancelled or delayed Friday evening.

In Cincinnati, a semi lost control on an icy overpass, leaving one wheel dangling over the edge. No one was hurt, but part of Interstate 71 was closed for a time, and the truck was leaking fuel, NBC affiliate WLWT in Cincinnati reported.

Earlier this week, the storm forced road closures in California and delays in a pro golf tournament in Arizona, where it dusted cactus-tops with snow.

PhotoBlog: Winter whiteout slams central US

The storm was blamed for at least two other deaths Wednesday. A 19-year-old Nebraska woman was killed in a two-car collision, and an 18-year-old man in Oklahoma died when his truck slid into a tractor-trailer on a slushy highway.

And the next storm was already on the way: Forecasters said it would sweep through the Rockies over the weekend, delivering up to a foot of snow to Colorado and up to 6 inches in Wyoming and Utah.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Much of the Midwest is covered in a blanket of white as a massive winter storm has covered parts of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas with over a foot of snow. NBC's John Yang reports.

This story was originally published on Fri Feb 22, 2013 9:32 AM EST

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17056288-winter-storm-rakes-the-midwest-new-england-headed-for-3rd-straight-weekend-of-snow?lite

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