Winter weather: Fast-moving snowstorm causes treacherous travel in upper Midwest; ground stop issued at Chicago’s O’Hare airport

A fast-moving snowstorm that brought high winds and heavy snow to the northern Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lakes is causing treacherous conditions for travelers across the region.

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport issued a ground stop on Friday due to snow and ice.

According to Fox Weather, “hundreds” of vehicle crashes were reported in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where up to 11 inches of snow fell.

Millions of people in 10 states from Minnesota to West Virginia were under winter storm warnings, watches or advisories on Friday morning.

The same so-called clipper system was expected to weaken as it approached the Appalachians. Still, 3-6 inches of snow are possible in some areas of West Virginia, western New York and northern New England.

Arctic blast on the East Coast

Meanwhile, an arctic blast will send temperatures plunging on the East Coast this weekend.

According to the National Weather Service, the arctic air mass “should bring daytime highs down to as much as 15 to 20 degrees below normal” for parts of the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic on Saturday and Sunday.

Combined with winds from the clipper system, it will send wind chills into the single digits in some parts of New England.

Warm-up on the way for Christmas

The cold snap, however, will be relatively short-lived.

According to the long-range outlook from the weather service’s Climate Prediction Center, above-average temperatures are forecast to spread across much of the country by the middle to end of next week.

And apart from heavy rain and some snow in the Pacific Northwest, there are no major weather hazards forecast through Dec. 24.

Record number of holiday travelers expected

That’s good news for the record number of Americans expected to travel during the year-end holiday season.

AAA projects that 119.3 million people will travel 50 miles or more from Saturday, Dec. 21, to Wednesday, Jan. 1 — surpassing the previous high mark set in 2019.

And AAA expects an additional 3 million travelers this holiday season compared to last year.

“This year, with Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday, we’re anticipating record-breaking travel numbers the weekend before and the weekend after the holiday,” AAA Travel Vice President Stacey Barber said in a statement.