Mitch Smith and John Eligon

The storm, which complicated travel Saturday and upended plans for the three-day weekend across much of the country, had already caused problems from Kansas, where the governor declared an emergency, to Chicago, where a United Airlines plane slid off the pavement.

Flights have been canceled by the thousands, and rapidly dropping temperatures Sunday in parts of the Northeast would freeze anything wet, creating “extremely dangerous” conditions on the roadways.

By late Saturday afternoon, the worst of the storm was crossing the Appalachian Mountains and advancing toward the East Coast, where the brunt of the snowfall was expected overnight Saturday and into Sunday. But the scope of the extreme weather remained impressive, with precipitation falling from southeast Missouri to upstate New York.

In Alabama, a tornado tore through the town of Wetumpka, about 15 miles northeast of Montgomery. Images of the devastation showed the remains of homes and churches, and Jerry Willis, the mayor, told reporters that a senior citizens center had been destroyed.

Some areas of New York were expected to get a wintry cocktail of snow, sleet, rain and ice, followed by plummeting temperatures.

Rich Otto, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said he expected the worst of the storm to move past New York City, where only 2 or 3 inches were forecast, by Sunday morning. In New England, the storm was expected to pass by Sunday night.

A United Airlines plane slid off the pavement at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Saturday while it was turning off a runway. No injuries were reported. The night before, at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, a Southwest Airlines plane slid off the runway after landing.

Two people died in Kohler, Wisconsin, on Friday night after a car they were riding in slid off a slick, snow-covered interstate and struck a tree, police said. In Kansas, the state Department of Transportation said one of its drivers died Saturday in a crash south of Kansas City.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/19/us/winter-storm-watch-harper.html" id="afd20e65-cd96-35a2-ac53-1d3f3112600b">The New York Times</a>.

CHICAGO — Heavy snowfall, high winds and a dangerous mix of rain and sleet were expected to hit swaths of the Northeast on Sunday, prompting officials to warn of icy roadways and power outages from a vast winter storm that had been pummeling the Great Plains and the Great Lakes.

Winter Storm Makes Travel Treacherous and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

In Alabama, a tornado tore through the roughly 8,000-person town of Wetumpka, about 15 miles northeast of Montgomery. Images of the devastation showed the remains of homes and churches, and Jerry Willis, the mayor, told local reporters that a senior citizens center was destroyed.

“We were not expecting anything like this,” he said. “It’s taken a toll on us.”

Some areas of New York, closer to the coast, were expected to get a wintry cocktail of snow, sleet, rain and ice, followed by plummeting temperatures.

“It’s a complicated storm,” said Rich Otto, a National Weather Service meteorologist, who said the “kitchen sink” of mixed precipitation was caused by a combination of cold air moving down from Canada and low pressure coming in from the south.

The storm continued to move briskly and was not expected to linger in the Northeast. Otto said he expected the worst to move past New York City, where only 2 or 3 inches were forecast, by Sunday morning. In New England, the storm was expected to pass by Sunday night.

As with any storm, National Weather Service offices across the country were busy providing detailed forecasts and updates. But this time their meteorologists were doing it without pay, a casualty of the federal government shutdown.

“There’s definitely a drain on morale,” said Ray Martin, a senior meteorologist in the Weather Service office serving Washington and Baltimore. He said he knew colleagues with young children or a new house who were struggling. “There’s a little bit of not feeling appreciated,” he added.

Although the snowstorm was not exactly surprising — it is January, after all — its impact has proved frightening, especially on transportation.

A United Airlines plane slid off the pavement at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Saturday, while the plane was turning off a runway. Airline officials said no injuries were reported.

The night before, at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, a Southwest Airlines plane slid off the runway after landing. After a bumpy descent, the plane seemed to be coming in sideways just before touching down, said Benny Salz, a passenger on the flight. It hit the ground hard, fishtailed and slid into the grass just off the runway, said Salz, 30, a music producer and singer who lives in Los Angeles.

“People were definitely freaked out when we landed,” he said.

Road conditions were also nasty. Two people died in Kohler, Wisconsin, on Friday night after a car they were riding in slid off a slick, snow-covered interstate and struck a tree, local police said. In Kansas, the state Department of Transportation said one of its drivers died Saturday morning in a crash south of Kansas City.

Officials urged drivers to take precautions. In Missouri, the Transportation Department said “roads continue to be slick” and “folks are still driving too fast for the current conditions.” In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned tractor-trailers and buses on most interstates for the duration of the storm. And in Rhode Island, state troopers warned that residents might encounter icy roads if they left home to watch the Kansas City Chiefs host the New England Patriots on television Sunday night.

“If there is ever a weekend to stay in and binge-watch something, this may be it,” said Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, who declared a state of emergency starting at noon Saturday.

More than 2,000 flights were canceled across the country Saturday, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware, more than a quarter of those in Chicago. Dozens had been canceled in New York, Philadelphia and Boston.

Many people complained that their flights had been canceled far in advance, only to see snowless skies at the time that they were supposed to take off.

Airlines err on the side of caution when it comes to flight schedules to avoid causing more chaos in their systems, said George Hamlin, an airline and commercial aerospace consultant. That airlines have few empty seats on a lot of flights means that rebooking travelers can be more difficult if they are forced to make a late cancellation, he said.

“The problem is once you get a major airline system out of kilter, it is a huge problem to get it back working again,” Hamlin said. “So the airlines have adopted a policy of doing this on a preventative basis.”

But some travelers were able to find a silver lining amid the chaos.

As Dr. Jennifer Hartwell was in midflight from Austin, Texas, to Detroit on Friday evening, she saw that her connecting flight to Indianapolis had been delayed to the next morning. She sent a text message to her husband from the plane, asking him to book a rental car, and then asked a flight attendant to see if there were other passengers who wanted to take the four-hour road trip with her.

Three other passengers took her up. One of them had been racing to get home because of a death in the family and would have missed a memorial service if she had waited for the delayed flight, said Hartwell, a trauma surgeon.

When they arrived in Indianapolis in the wee hours of Saturday morning, the father of the woman going to the memorial service embraced Hartwell.

“Thank you very much for getting my daughter to me,” he said through tears.

The storm, which complicated travel and busted plans for the three-day weekend across much of the country, caused problems from Kansas, where the governor declared an emergency, to New England, where forecasters predicted up to 2 feet of snow and warned of avalanches.

The fallout was bleak: Flights canceled by the hundreds, extensive power failures and warnings to stay off the roads in cities like Chicago.

The heaviest snow by midday Saturday stretched from northern Illinois into Ohio and southern Michigan, according to Rich Otto, a National Weather Service meteorologist. To the west, where the storm had hit Friday, more than 1 foot had been recorded in parts of South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

As the storm sped eastward, where it is forecast to worsen, Otto said he expected most of the snow to fall in a band from northern Pennsylvania through central New York and into New England’s inland areas. Other places, especially those to the south and closer to the coast, were expected to get a wintry cocktail of snow, sleet, rain and ice, followed by plummeting temperatures.

Parts of Massachusetts could see up to 1 foot of snow, the National Weather Service warned.

“It’s a complicated storm,” said Otto, who said the “kitchen sink” of mixed precipitation was caused by a combination of cold air moving down from Canada and low pressure coming in from the south.

“There could be a significant ice storm for folks from portions of the Appalachians into Pennsylvania,” Otto said.

Otto said he expected the worst to move past New York City, where only 2 or 3 inches were forecast, by Sunday morning. In New England, the storm was expected to pass by Sunday night.

The snowstorm’s impact has proved frightening. In Omaha, Nebraska, the airport closed for a time Friday after a Southwest Airlines plane slid off the runway after landing.

In Kansas, the state Department of Transportation said one its drivers died Saturday morning in a crash south of Kansas City.

CHICAGO — The Great Plains were digging out, the Great Lakes were being walloped and the Northeast was bracing for impact Saturday as a huge snowstorm raced across the Northern states.

Winter Storm Wallops Midwest and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

The fallout was bleak: Flights canceled by the hundreds, extensive power failures and stern warnings to stay off the roads in cities like Chicago, where downtown was conspicuously quiet Saturday morning as plows tried to keep up with the growing piles of snow.

“You want to hit it hard while it’s hitting you hard,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago said Friday night as the storm approached his city.

Though the snowstorm was not exactly surprising — it is January, after all — its impact has proved frightening. In Omaha, Nebraska, the airport closed for a time Friday after a Southwest Airlines plane slid off the runway after landing.

After a bumpy descent, the plane seemed to be coming in sideways just before touching down, said Benny Salz, a passenger on the flight. It hit the ground hard, with the right side of the plane landing first. After fishtailing a bit, the aircraft slid into the grass just off the runway, said Salz, 30, a music producer and singer who lives in Los Angeles.

Officials urged drivers to take precautions. In Missouri, the Transportation Department said “roads continue to be slick” and “folks are still driving too fast for the current conditions.” In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned tractor-trailers and buses on most interstates for the duration of the storm. In Illinois, state troopers said trucks and cars had careened off icy highways.

Some people were able to find a silver lining amid the storm.

As Jennifer Hartwell was in midflight from Austin, Texas, to Detroit on Friday evening, she saw that her connecting flight to Indianapolis had been delayed to 6 a.m. Saturday. She sent a text message to her husband from the plane, asking him to book a rental car, then asked a flight attendant to see if there were other passengers who wanted to take the four-hour road trip with her.

Three other passengers took her up. One of them had been racing to get home because of a death in the family and would have missed a memorial service if she had waited for the 6 a.m. flight, said Hartwell, a trauma surgeon.

“If you step back,” Hartwell, 41, said, “you can make a connection with people that is meaningful and make the most out of the situation.”

The fallout was bleak: Flights canceled by the thousands, extensive power failures and stern warnings to stay off the roads in cities like Chicago, where downtown was conspicuously quiet Saturday morning as plows tried to keep up with the growing piles of snow.

At midday Saturday, the heaviest snow stretched from northern Illinois into Ohio and southern Michigan, according to Rich Otto, a National Weather Service meteorologist. To the west, where the storm had hit Friday, more than 1 foot had been recorded in parts of South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

Though the snowstorm was not exactly surprising — it is January, after all — its impact has proved frightening, especially on transportation

A United Airlines plane slid off a concrete surface at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Saturday, while the plane was turning off a runway. Airline officials said no injuries were reported.

In Kansas, the state Department of Transportation said one of its drivers died Saturday morning in a crash south of Kansas City.

More than 3,200 flights have been canceled so far, according the flight tracking site FlightAware.

But some people were able to find a silver lining amid the chaos.

As Jennifer Hartwell was in midflight from Austin, Texas, to Detroit on Friday evening, she saw that her connecting flight to Indianapolis had been delayed to the next morning. She sent a text message to her husband from the plane, asking him to book a rental car, then asked a flight attendant to see if there were other passengers who wanted to take the four-hour road trip with her.

The storm, which complicated travel and busted plans for the three-day weekend across much of the country, caused problems from Kansas, where the governor declared an emergency, to Maine, where forecasters predicted up to 2 feet of snow and warned of avalanches.

The fallout was bleak: Flights canceled by the hundreds, extensive power failures and warnings to stay off the roads in cities like Chicago, where downtown was conspicuously quiet Saturday morning as plows tried to keep up with the growing piles of snow.

Though the snowstorm was not exactly surprising — it is January, after all — its impact proved frightening. In Omaha, Nebraska, the airport closed for a time Friday after a Southwest Airlines plane slid off the runway after landing.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family members and the co-workers of our driver,” Julie Lorenz, the interim transportation secretary in Kansas, said in a statement. “KDOT is one big family, and we know there are many people impacted by this.”

By Saturday morning, more than 8 inches of snow had fallen in Libertyville, Illinois, northwest of Chicago, and more than 3 inches in Des Moines, Iowa. Nearly 300 flights had been canceled at Chicago’s two airports, according to FlightAware.

The storm’s impact was expected to worsen as it moved toward the East Coast on Saturday night. New York City was expected to get up to 3 inches of snow, with multiples of that forecast for upstate areas. Parts of Massachusetts could see up to 1 foot of snow, the National Weather Service warned. Dozens of flights had been canceled at airports in New York City and Boston.

By Saturday morning, more than 8 inches of snow had fallen in Libertyville, Illinois, northwest of Chicago, and more than 3 inches in Des Moines, Iowa. A popular outlet mall in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, south of Milwaukee, announced it was closing for the day because of the snowfall. Nearly 300 flights had been canceled at Chicago’s two airports, according to FlightAware.

The storm’s impact was expected to worsen as it moved toward the East Coast on Saturday night. New York City was expected to get up to 3 inches of snow, with multiples of that forecast for upstate areas. Parts of Massachusetts could see up to 1 foot of snow, the National Weather Service warned. And dozens of flights had already been canceled at airports in New York City and Boston.

As Jennifer Hartwell was in midflight from Austin, Texas, to Detroit on Friday evening, she saw that her connecting flight to Indianapolis had been delayed to 6 a.m. Saturday. She texted her husband from the plane to book a rental car, and then asked a flight attendant to see if there were other passengers who wanted to take the four-hour road trip with her.

Three other passengers took her up. One of them had been racing to get home because of a death in the family, and would have missed a memorial service if she had waited for the 6 a.m. flight, said Hartwell, a trauma surgeon.

The fallout was bleak for travelers: Flights were canceled by the thousands and officials gave stern warnings to stay off the roads.

By late Saturday afternoon, the worst of the storm was crossing the Appalachian Mountains and advancing toward the East Coast, where the brunt of the snowfall was expected overnight Saturday and into Sunday. But the scope of the storm remained impressive, with precipitation falling from southeast Missouri to upstate New York.

Areas to the south and closer to the coast were expected to get a wintry cocktail of snow, sleet, rain and ice, followed by plummeting temperatures.

Though the snowstorm was not exactly surprising — it is January, after all — its impact has proved frightening, especially on transportation.

Officials urged drivers to take precautions. In Missouri, the Transportation Department said “roads continue to be slick” and “folks are still driving too fast for the current conditions.” In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned tractor-trailers and buses on most interstates for the duration of the storm. And in Rhode Island, state troopers warned that residents might encounter icy roads if they left home to watch the New England Patriots play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night.

Airlines err on the side of caution when it comes to flight schedules, so as not to cause more chaos in their systems, said George Hamlin, an airline and commercial aerospace consultant. The fact that airlines have very few empty seats on a lot of flights means that rebooking travelers can be more difficult if they are forced to make a late cancellation, he said.

As Dr. Jennifer Hartwell was in midflight from Austin, Texas, to Detroit on Friday evening, she saw that her connecting flight to Indianapolis had been delayed to the next morning. She sent a text message to her husband from the plane, asking him to book a rental car, then asked a flight attendant to see if there were other passengers who wanted to take the four-hour road trip with her.

Flights were canceled by the thousands and officials gave warnings to stay off the roads.

By late Saturday afternoon, the worst of the storm was crossing the Appalachian Mountains and advancing toward the East Coast, where the brunt of the snowfall was expected overnight Saturday and into Sunday.

The snowstorm’s impact has proved frightening, especially on transportation.

The night before, at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, a Southwest Airlines plane slid off the runway after landing.

More than 2,000 flights were canceled across the country Saturday, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware, more than a quarter of those in Chicago.

<h1>The storm, which complicated travel and busted plans for the three-day weekend across much of the country, caused problems from Kansas, where the governor declared an emergency, to New England, where forecasters predicted up to 2 feet of snow and warned of avalanches.</h1>

The fallout was bleak: Flights canceled by the thousands, extensive power failures and stern warnings to stay off the roads in cities like Chicago.

The night before, at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, a Southwest Airlines plane slid off the runway after landing.

Winter storm wallops Midwest and is expected to worsen as it moves east

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Mitch Smith and John Eligon

Articles written by the author

Winter Storm Makes Travel Treacherous and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

Winter Storm Makes Travel Treacherous and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

Winter Storm Wallops Midwest and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

Winter Storm Wallops Midwest and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

Winter Storm Wallops Midwest and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

Winter Storm Wallops Midwest and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

Winter Storm Wallops Midwest and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

Winter Storm Makes Travel Treacherous and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

Winter Storm Makes Travel Treacherous and Is Expected to Worsen as It Moves East

Winter storm wallops Midwest and is expected to worsen as it moves east