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Nation-Wide Winter Storm Leads To Mass Chaos

Screenshot/Twitter/NWS

Kay Smythe News and Commentary Writer
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Another massive winter storm struck Wednesday, causing mass chaos across the nation.

The country-wide winter storm was set to hit at least 35 states on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, but seems to be far more dangerous than initially anticipated. California, which dealt with back-to-back extreme weather events at the start of 2023, is getting hit pretty hard by the system.

Storm watcher Colin McCarthy told his Twitter followers that “one of the worst winter storms of the 21st century is about to hit the Southern California mountains.” He forecasted that some seven feet of snow could fall in ranges of about 4,000 feet, meaning that Mount Baldy will be the “snowiest ski resort on Earth” over the coming days, with more than 100 inches expected to fall.

More than 600 flights have been cancelled as strong winds and heavy snowfall coat western and central states, the Wall Street Journal reported. Tens of thousands of homes are currently without power due to the same weather system as it stretches across the country, and more than 145,000 people in California reported that their power was out.

Footage from Idaho shared by the National Weather Service showed the arctic front moving in on Tuesday night. Footage suggests that roads were coated in thick, icy snow in less than an hour.

Many schools are closed throughout the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, with meteorologists forecasting up to a half-inch of ice in parts of Michigan and Illinois as the system continues to barrel eastwards, the Chicago Tribune noted.

The storm could bring historic weather conditions to areas already used to heavy snowfall during this time of year. The Minneapolis-St. Paul region could see up to two feet of snow for the first time in more than 30 years, the outlet noted. (RELATED: Check Out The National Weather Service’s Amazing Word Gymnastics Over California Drought Questions)

Many south-eastern states, such as Florida, all the way up to North Carolina, are anticipated to see temperatures significantly above the norm, the outlet reported. In Raleigh, North Carolina, temperatures hit 77 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, which tied with the old record set in 2018, NWS noted.