DETROIT, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- More than a foot of snow covered parts of Michigan Tuesday, creating dangerous driving conditions and scattered power outages.
Bone-numbing temperatures gripped parts of the Eastern and Midwestern United States plunging the deep freeze as far south as the Gulf Coast, weather officials said.
In Michigan, the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids predicted up to eight inches of lake-effect snow would fall and visibility would be near zero.
Areas around Detroit were blanketed with up to 15 inches of snow, affecting even forecasters.
"I was supposed to leave when my shift ended at 8 a.m. (Tuesday), but my replacements aren't here so I'm assuming the roads out here are probably impassable right now," meteorologist Steve Considine at the NWS center in White Lake Township told The Detroit News.
Snow also was expected in Northeast Tuesday, with the storm blanketing upstate New York and northern New England, AccuWeather said.
In Colorado, Interstate 70 reopened after the threat of avalanches along the main route through mountains passed, the Rocky Mountain News in Denver said.
