Winter Storm Echo’s Heavy Snow Shuts Down Flights, Closes Roads

Parts of eight Western states were under winter storm warnings on Tuesday morning as a powerful winter storm continued to travel across the United States.

The National Weather Service issued the warnings in Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska as Winter Storm Echo moved east.

Meteorologists warned the storm would bring more heavy snowfall and high wind gusts, and could spur hazardous travel conditions. It’s already dumped lots of snow in the states it passed.

The National Weather Service reported the storm brought 28.1 inches of snow to Bountiful, Utah, between 6 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Tuesday, and more snow was expected to fall later Tuesday. About 26.3 inches were recorded near Atlanta, Idaho, and 23.3 inches were observed near Corbin, Montana. Double-digit totals were also seen in parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

In some cases, the snowfall totals were record.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that 6.9 inches of snow fell at the city’s airport Sunday, smashing the previous single-day record of 5.8 inches. The previous mark was set in 1922.

Winter Storm Echo was also snarling travel, including some significant developments.

The snow forced the cancellation of 315 flights to and from Denver International Airport on Tuesday, according to the flight monitoring website FlightAware. Another 212 were delayed.

In Wyoming, the state Department of Transportation shut down a roughly 108-mile eastbound stretch of Interstate 80 between Rock Springs and Rawlins due to “winter conditions.” The road was also closed in both directions between Cheyenne and Laramie, some 50 miles apart.

While the storm was no longer pummeling the West Coast, it certainly made an impact.

The storm’s highest recorded snowfall total was 33 inches in Willamette Pass, Oregon. Echo also deposited 20-plus inches in mountainous California and Nevada, and a foot in Jacob Lake, Arizona. The storm dropped rain on warmer areas, including 8.71 inches in parts of California.

That rain was being blamed for at least two deaths.

In California, CBS San Francisco reported that the parents of two young children died when their car rolled over multiple times and tumbled down an embankment off Interstate 580 on Saturday. Fire officials reportedly said the vehicle might have hydroplaned on slick roads there.

House Overwhelmingly Votes to Tighten Restrictions on Visa-Free Travel

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to impose new restrictions on travel to the United States, which bill proponents said is designed to prevent terrorists from lawfully entering the country.

The bill, approved by a 407-19 margin, is geared to reform the United States’ Visa Waiver Program, which allows eligible citizens from 38 participating countries to travel to the country for 90 or fewer days without first getting a visa from a United States embassy or consulate.

The list of countries includes Belgium and France, according to the State Department. Those countries were the home of many of the terrorists who executed the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. The legislation is designed to close a loophole that, theoretically, could have allowed any one of those Belgian or French terrorists from entering the United States through the Visa Waiver Program.

The Associated Press reported about 20 million travelers visit America through the program every year. There are some security measures in place, but this bill aims to improve them.

The changes would now require the 38 participating countries to “continually share terrorism and foreign traveler data with the United States,” according to a news release from lawmakers.

“It will also disqualify anyone who has traveled to Syria, Iraq, Sudan, and Iran within the past five years from participating in the program,” Rep. Candice Miller (R-Michigan), the lawmaker who introduced the bill, said on the House floor. “In an abundance of caution, we will now require those individuals to apply for a visa and go through the formal visa screening process.”

In the week before the vote, the House’s Homeland Security Committee Chairman, Michael McCaul (R-Texas), said about 5,000 of the 30,000 foreign fighters currently in Iraq and Syria have Western passports that could have been used to exploit the Visa Waiver Program loophole.

Other proposed changes to the program are geared toward reducing passport fraud.

They include requiring the participating countries to report lost or stolen passports within 24 hours, and screen travelers against INTERPOL records. The changes would also require U.S.-bound travelers to hold chip-enabled “e-passports” like those issued by the United States.

The bill would allow Homeland Security officials to suspend a country’s visa waiver privileges if they don’t comply with the proposed rules, like not sharing information about potential threats. They could also block any country from the program if the country is later determined to be a “high-risk” area in security reviews that would be conducted annually.

“We need to be certain that participating countries are giving us all the information we need from either their own terror watch lists or travel manifests and that the information protocols are being shared,” Miller said on the House floor. “As we know, sometimes it’s not until after the fact that some of the participating countries actually provide us names of individuals who they knew were a terror threat. That is unacceptable.”

Though it was approved by the House, the bill still needs Senate approval and must be signed by the president before it becomes a law. Lawmakers have introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

Miller also called for a “complete, comprehensive review of all our visa programs,” including the fiancee-visa that allowed one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, California, mass shootings to lawfully enter the country. Tashfeen Malik was a Pakistani native living in Saudi Arabia when she met Syed Rizwan Farook, a United States citizen, reportedly on an online dating website.

Last week, the couple killed 14 people and injured 21 more during a party for Farook’s coworkers. The mass shooting has been called an act of terrorism by President Barack Obama, and authorities say they have evidence that the couple had been radicalized for a period of time.

The investigation into the shootings continued on Wednesday.

Winter Storm Cara Bringing Dangerous Mix

Winter Storm Cara will make traveling for Thanksgiving and for those returning home, slow going and in some places quite dangerous for a great deal of the middle of the country. According to the Weather Channel, this strong system will bring a mixture of flooding rain, heavy snow and treacherous icing conditions.  The possibility for black ice is a great concern as well as power outages from freezing rain.

Accuweather has reported that freezing rain has already been reported in the early morning hours of Thanksgiving in parts of northeast Colorado, eastern Wyoming and Nebraska.

The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning for portions of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, including the city of Amarillo, Texas, as well as parts of southern Kansas. These warnings are valid from Thursday night into Friday or Saturday.

Cities that could experience one or more periods of freezing rain and drizzle include Amarillo, Texas; Gage, Oklahoma; Dodge City, Kansas; Lamar, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; and Des Moines, Iowa.

According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Bowers, “People traveling either a short or long distance from the eastern slopes of the Rockies to the Plains, Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes region are likely to encounter delays into Friday.”

Snow is expected from the central and eastern parts of Colorado and Wyoming to central Nebraska, northwestern Kansas, northwestern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota. The slushy snow will harden as the temperatures fall so caution is urged.

The most widespread impact on travel will be associated with drenching rain during Thanksgiving Day into Friday.

“Motorists will need to slow down due to patchy fog and blowing spray and to reduce the risk of hydroplaning,” Bowers said.

Enough rain can fall in some locations to cause flash flooding. The greatest risk of flooding  will extend from north-central Texas to southern Missouri.

For those traveling in these areas be sure to check weather conditions before heading out on the road.  

United States issues worldwide travel warning

Americans planning to travel this holiday season should remain vigilant.

The State Department issued a worldwide travel alert on Monday, advising United States citizens of “increased terrorist threats.” The alert is effective through Feb. 24, 2016.

The State Department’s website posting does not mention a specific new threat, but noted terrorist groups Al-Qaida, the Islamic State, Boko Haram and others are continuing to plan attacks.

“These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics, using conventional and non-conventional weapons and targeting both official and private interests,” the department wrote.

The State Department also warned of a “continuing threat” from individuals who are not affiliated with a terrorist organization, but might have been inspired by a group’s attacks.

It pointed to recent plots on sporting events, theaters and airliners, and said authorities think terrorist attacks are likely to continue as members of the Islamic State come back from Syria and Iraq.

The alert encourages travelers to remain alert, be aware of their surroundings and avoid large crowds.

“Exercise particular caution during the holiday season and at holiday festivals or events,” the State Department warned.

According to its website, such travel warnings are issued when the State Department wants individuals “to consider very carefully whether (they) should go to a country at all.”

Record snows and storms to affect holiday travels

The first snowfall brought amounts amounts of snow ranging from a few inches to 20 inches from South Dakota through Michigan over the weekend as temperatures plunged southward.

Chicago recorded its second-heaviest snowfall during a single storm in November  causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled and others to be delayed.

According to the National Weather Service, Saturday’s snowfall of 11.2 inches recorded Friday and Saturday was beat only by a snowstorm ending on November 26 in 1895 that saw 12 inches of snow.

For Thanksgiving, a storm system will have a mix of soaking rain, snow, cold winds and possible ice on the central part of the United States.

According to Accuweather, the Thanksgiving Day storm will center itself between warmer air in the Eastern U.S. and brisk cold air in the west as it plunges southward.  Rain and snow with a potential for a narrow zone of ice threatens the central states.

Heavy rain across Oklahoma, Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri lie within this storm zone.  Freezing rain and sleet could develop from portions of southeastern Nebraska to southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado on Thanksgiving Day.

Stay tuned to weather reports as you make your plans for the Thanksgiving week and check with your airline for any delays.

Storms Threaten Christmas Travel

A series of storms across the nation are threatening to make Christmas travel a mess.  Thunderstorms across the south, rain in in the east and snowstorms around the Great Lakes could bring serious flight delays and dangerous road conditions.

Up to three inches of snow is predicted for the areas around Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway International airports.  Delays and cancellations at two of the nation’s biggest Midwest airports would have repercussions throughout the country.

“I’d be nervous about the possibility of not being able to get out,” Chicago area meteorologist Charles Mott told the Associated Press. “I would definitely make plans about possibly staying put or doing something else.”

Over 4.2 million travelers are expected to go through the Chicago airports during the Christmas season.

Storms across the Rockies caused blowing snow that blocked major highways and even Hawaii is feeling the winter punch as a blizzard warning was issued for the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island.  While snow is common, a blizzard is considered unusual by meteorologists.

Winter Storm Snarls Holiday Travel

A major winter storm is striking the northeast during the heart of the Thanksgiving travel period.

Forecasters are predicting snowfall in excess of a foot throughout most of central New England.  Heavy rain and wind should reach from western North Carolina through Maine.  Thunder snowstorms are a possibility through the region.

“In most cases, the worst time to travel in the mid-Atlantic and New England due to the storm will be on Wednesday and Wednesday night,” wrote AccuWeather’s Elliot Abrams.

Flight delays are possible throughout the New England corridor through the weekend.

Forecasters also are warning about ice covered roads on Thanksgiving and for weekend travel.