Snowstorm Ripples Across Midwest

DES MOINES — Many Iowa schools canceled or delayed the start of classes Monday after a storm dumped deep snow on parts of the state.

The storm also spread snow across northern sections of Illinois and Indiana and parts of Wisconsin and Michigan.

In Iowa, most of the snow fell across the southern half of the state. The Des Moines area got about 7 inches, said Marc Russell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Temperatures were expected to hit zero Monday night, with wind chills of 20 to 30 degrees below zero in northern Illinois.

“This is the real first [storm] like this, this winter,” Russell said. “We’ve had snow before with a lot of wind, but this is more of an arctic blast.”

The temperature hit 26 below zero in Fargo, N.D. In Butte, Mont., the morning low was 36 degrees below zero.

“It’s so cold that no one’s coming out to get coffee,” said Kelly Twiford, manager of the Badlands Brew Coffee Bar in Dickinson, N.D., where the 9 a.m. temperature Monday was still 20 below, with a wind chill factor of minus 45.

By Monday afternoon, the heaviest precipitation had moved to the northeast and broken up, leaving only light snow showers around the Great Lakes and northern New England. Rain had moved south and east, forming a band that stretched from southern Louisiana to the Middle Atlantic states.

The weather and ripple effects from other airports delayed 20 flights Sunday at Des Moines International Airport. In Chicago, which got about 6 inches of snow, airlines on Sunday canceled more than 300 flights to and from O’Hare International Airport, city aviation department spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Air travel appeared to be returning to normal Monday afternoon at Chicago’s airports, with just a handful of cancellations.