Midwest socked by winter storm

It’s not winter yet, but Winter Storm Bella pounded the upper Midwest with snow starting Friday night and continuing through Saturday.

The National Weather Services predicts 6 to 11 inches of snow will accumulate throughout the day. Midway worldwide Airport had cancelled about 110 flights.

The storm created hazardous travel conditions and caused more than 500 flight cancellations.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the snowy weather was creating delays for other flights nationwide, averaging around an hour.

Indianapolis received 1.3 inches of snow – half an inch more than the record for November 21, which was set in 1996.

The Detroit Free Press reported DTE Energy said the storm had knocked out power to about 50,000 people in the metropolitan Detroit area as of 9:30 p.m. Up to a foot of snow was expected in the region, which was under a winter storm warning.

“A lot of people complaining about it, nobody wants to be out in it”, he said.

“It’s a typical first snow for us, but it’s a pain in the butt”.

The South Dakota Department of Transportation issued a no-travel advisory due to weather midday Friday for a large area across the southeastern portion of the state. A low of 18 degrees was expected Sunday morning, said National Weather Service meteorologist Meagan Bird.

“Lows will be in the single digits in the western suburbs”, National Weather Service Meteorologist Amy Seeley said. The Indiana Toll Road in the northern part of the state is banning triple-trailer trucks from 7 a.m. Saturday to 1 a.m. Sunday because of unsafe conditions.

The first snowfall of the season brought amounts ranging from a few inches to 20 from South Dakota through MI earlier in the weekend.

Partly sunny but cold weather was forecast to prevail today in the Toledo area, with temperatures expected to rise only to around the freezing mark after falling into the 20s overnight. Des Moines had recorded 6 inches by late Friday and 4 inches had fallen at Chicago’s O’Hare worldwide Airport, one of the world’s busiest.

Ice control material, including sand, rock salt and calcium chloride, were already mixed and drivers had conducted a “dry sweep” of their routes to check for fallen or overhanging trees and defects, he said.