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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 27 november 2019

Continued from Front before her scheduled flight
And in northern California to Chicago for Thanksgiv-
and southern Oregon, resi- ing.
dents were bracing for the "I just wanted to beat the
late Tuesday afternoon ar- storm. We kind of left in
rival of a "bomb cyclone" the middle of it so it kind
weather phenomenon that of didn't work, but we got
could create waves of up here," she told KCNC-TV.
to 35 feet (11 meters), wind Airport workers handed out
gusts of up to 75 mph (120 blankets, diapers, baby
kph) and heavy snow in formula, toothbrushes and
mountainous areas. toothpaste to the airline
At Denver International Air- passengers who camped
port, about 10 inches (25.4 out for the night on floors
centimeters) of snow mixed and in chairs.
with winds that limited visi- The snow forced the clo-
bility prompted the cancel- sures of long stretches of
lation of about 30 percent Interstates 70 and 76 on
of the airport's average plains east and north of
daily 1,600 flights. Opera- Denver. Parts of Interstate
tions began returning to 80 in Wyoming were bur-
normal in the afternoon as ied under snow drifts of up
the storm moved east af- to 4 feet (121 centimeters),
ter dumping up to nearly 3 officials said. Many govern-
feet (0.9 meters) of snow in ment offices in the Denver
parts of northern Colorado. area and in Cheyenne,
Southwest Airlines can- Wyoming closed along with
celed about 200 flights in colleges and schools not
Denver and airline spokes- already on holiday break. City of Denver snowplows clear the eastbound lanes of Speer Blvd. as a storm packing snow and
man Brad Hawkins said it In Nebraska, several school high winds sweeps in over the region Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019, in Denver.
would take "a couple of districts canceled classes Associated Press
days" to accommodate Wednesday and the south-
stranded passengers on western city of Sidney had de-icing tanks, calling in of 40-50 mph (64-81 kph) storm dumps about 2 feet
other flights because there received about 8 inches extra flight dispatchers and gusts in the forecast. Rules (61 centimeters) of snow.
are few during the pre- (20 centimeters) of snow. operations employees, and put in place after several The approaching storm ac-
Thanksgiving travel crush. Blizzard and wintry weather having some of its 20 in- people were injured by a celerated the annual win-
That makes it hard for air- warnings extended into the house meteorologists focus balloon years ago require ter closure of the highway
lines to rebook passengers Great Lakes states with the on the Minneapolis fore- lower altitudes or full re- leading to the North Rim of
whose flights have been storm expected to bring cast. moval if sustained winds ex- the Grand Canyon by five
canceled. high winds and snow to "The timing is very helpful," ceed 23 mph (37 kph) and days.
About 1,100 people spent Michigan, Minnesota and said Erik Snell, a Delta senior gusts exceed 34 mph (54 This month, AAA predicted
the night at the airport, Wisconsin later Tuesday vice president who over- kph). The decision will be that the number of travel-
including many cadets and a chance of snow sees operations. "It gives made on parade day. ers over a five-day stretch
from the Air Force Acad- over the weekend for parts the airport time to clear The second storm develop- Thanksgiving holiday travel
emy near Colorado Springs of New England, said Alex the runways, although we'll ing in the Pacific Ocean period starting Wednesday
who either missed flights or Lamers, a National Weath- have to watch the residual was expected to slam the will be the second-highest
wanted to get to the air- er Service meteorologist. snowfall in the morning." West Coast of the U.S. on ever, behind only 2005.
port before road conditions "That could be a coast-to- The storm system could Tuesday evening, bring- For those flying, airlines ex-
deteriorated, said airport coast storm," he said. mean disappointment for ing snow to the mountains pect traffic to be up about
spokeswoman Alex Rent- The storm is expected to fans of the larger-than-life of California and Nevada 4% from this time last year.
eria. dump snow on the airport balloons flown at Macy's and wind and rain along Airlines added about 850
Among them was cadet in Minneapolis, where Delta Thanksgiving Day Parade in the coasts of California flights and 108,000 seats
Sadie Luhman, whose trip Air Lines in the major carrier, New York. and Oregon. Forecasters per day on average to
to the airport took three but most is expected to fall Organizers were prepar- warned of "difficult to im- handle the increase over
hours — twice the normal overnight when few flights ing for the possibility that of possible travel conditions" last year's crowds, accord-
driving time. She got to the are scheduled. grounding the iconic bal- across much of northern Ar- ing to the trade group Air-
airport at 1 a.m., 10 hours Delta prepared by filling loon characters because izona later this week as that lines for America.q