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A pedestrian crosses Seventh Street in downtown Rapid City, S.D., on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018.
NEW YORK--The storm system that forced a cancellation of a college football game in Texas due to unrelenting lightning drove blizzard-like conditions through parts of the Midwest on Thursday and threatened travel chaos from Minnesota down to Kansas and east to New England.
Blizzard warnings were in effect for parts of Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Some areas were bracing for up to 18 inches snow. Sustained winds of 15-30 mph with gusts ranging between 35 and 50 mph are anticipated in parts of the region.
In Kansas, Gov. Jeff Colyer declared a state of emergency.
"We hope that travelers will be wise by paying attention to weather alerts and not unnecessarily placing themselves in harm's way as the storm moves through," Colyer said.
Travel will be hazardous with slick snow-covered roads, especially in areas where blizzard warnings are in effect, the National Weather Service warned.
Temperatures are forecast to plunge as the storm progresses. Actual temperatures will fall into the 20s, teens and single digits in some areas. Due to the wind, the temperatures will feel like below zero, AccuWeather said.
A narrow swath of wintry mix that includes sleet and freezing rain is forecast from parts of central and northern Kansas to southeastern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and northern Michigan, AccuWeather said.
Several communities in this zone may be hit with enough freezing rain to cause tree limbs to collapse and regional power outages to occur, AccuWeather said.
The South isn't being entirely spared. Lightning and the threat of severe weather forced cancellation of the First Responder Bowl in Dallas on Wednesday night.
Severe thunderstorms that could spawn tornadoes were forecast in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and western Tennessee on Thursday. Locally severe thunderstorms were also possible for parts of Iowa, western Illinois and northern Missouri.
"The full spectrum of severe weather is anticipated with these storms," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. "Everything from frequent lightning strikes to flooding downpours, hail, strong wind gusts and isolated tornadoes may occur with this setup into Thursday night."
