Snowstorm that hit Texas and stopped travel

Snowstorm Moving to Northeast After Halting Texas Travel

A winter storm that dropped 17 inches (43 centimeters) of snow in Amarillo, Texas, closed airports and shut highways will move across the Great Plains toward Chicago and possibly Boston.

The storm is expected to head northeast, bringing heavy snow to Kansas and Missouri overnight and as much as 8 inches to Chicago starting tomorrow, said David Roth, a weather forecaster with the U.S. Hydrometeorological Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

The heavy snow, the Plains’s second major storm in a week, may help the region that has been struggling with one of the worst droughts since the 1930s, Roth said.

“This snowpack is going to be great for them because it is going to help the winter wheat,” Roth said. “Ultimately, this will be a very good thing for the Great Plains even if it is a significant nuisance right now.”

Wheat slid to an eight-month low in Chicago today on speculation that the snow will help ease the dryness. Cattle futures climbed on concern that the system will disrupt the movement of animals and supplies.

The storm shut down Interstate 40 and several secondary roads through the Texas Panhandle, according to the state Transportation Department’s website. A blizzard warning stretches from eastern New Mexico through Texas and into Oklahoma and Kansas.

Survival Kits

“Falling and blowing snow with strong winds and poor visibilities are likely,” the National Weather Service said. “Do not travel. If you must, have a winter survival kit with you.”

Storm warnings, watches and advisories reach into Illinois, including Chicago, and Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

Amarillo and Lubbock international airports shut. High winds spawned by the system caused delays of almost 2.5 hours at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.

As of 4 p.m. Eastern time, 304 flights were canceled across the U.S., with 106 of them into or out of Dallas-Fort Worth, according to FlightAware, a Houston-based airline tracking company.

Roth said while the storm’s energy pushes snow through the Great Lakes and into Ontario, a secondary system will develop in North Carolina and move up the East Coast, bringing rain toWashington, Philadelphia and New York later this week. There may be “measurable snow” in Boston in three days, he said.