Millions of Americans were under freeze warnings on Saturday morning as an Arctic blast swept across the Great Lakes, Midwest, and northern Plains.
With snowfall totals predicted to reach three feet or more downwind of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, six million people were under winter alerts Friday from northern Minnesota into upstate New York.
The lowest temperatures since last winter are being delivered by the Arctic airmass, the National Weather Service warned. On Saturday morning, wind chills are predicted to drop below zero throughout the upper Midwest and northern Plains. The EPA warned that wind chills might drop as low as minus 30 to 40 degrees in some areas of North Dakota.
According to the National Weather Service, the greatest snow accumulations are anticipated east of Lake Ontario, where isolated locations around the Watertown, New York, area may receive up to 60 inches of snow by the beginning of next week.
A state of emergency was proclaimed Friday for a number of counties, including Oswego and Erie, by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. There will occasionally be blinding snowfall rates of 3 to 4 inches per hour, along with the possibility of thundersnow, an uncommon meteorological phenomenon that mixes a snowstorm with lightning and thunder, making travel dangerous.
The National Weather Service reported that by Friday evening, portions of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York had already received over 20 inches of snow near the coasts of Lake Erie.
According to the agency, Erie, Pennsylvania, recorded 30 inches, the most so far.
Post-Thanksgiving travel plans have been hampered by road interruptions, particularly along Interstate 90 between Cleveland and Buffalo.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz of New York announced at a press conference that the interstate was stopped in Pennsylvania late Friday afternoon between interstate 79 and the New York state line. North of Syracuse, New York, Interstate 81 is another route that can be impacted.
Travel “could be very difficult to impossible” in areas downwind of the Great Lakes, according to a Friday National Weather Service report.
North of Syracuse, New York, Interstate 81 is another route that can be impacted. The Sunday Night Football face-off between the San Francisco 49ers and the Buffalo Bills could be buried under snow because Highmark Stadium is in Orchard Park, a town that is forecast to pick up between 12 and 18 inches, with higher amounts possible.
The Buffalo Bills invited their ardent supporters, known as the Bills Mafia, to sign up to shovel snow at the stadium on X on Friday.
Poloncarz said during the media briefing that central and southern Erie County will most likely be hit the hardest, with the majority of the snowfall arriving on Saturday and Sunday. According to Poloncarz, the southern part of the county may receive more than three feet of snow, while the middle parts may receive two to three feet.
On Friday, freeze watches and warnings were in effect for around 9 million people in the South, which stretches from Texas to the Carolinas.
A vigorouslake-effect snowevent blanketing areas downwind of the Great Lakes, is expected to taper off early next week. But weather forecasters warned that colder air was still headed South, with an Arctic air mass spilling south out of Canada.
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