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Winter storm brings hazardous conditions to Midwest; one killed in Kansas

By Nicholas Sakelaris and Daniel Uria
A snowplow truck spreads anti-icing materials to clear snow and ice from roads in Hennepin County, Minn. Photo courtesy of Hennepin County/Twitter
A snowplow truck spreads anti-icing materials to clear snow and ice from roads in Hennepin County, Minn. Photo courtesy of Hennepin County/Twitter

Dec. 27 (UPI) -- One person died Thursday in a crash related to a winter storm that brought heavy snow to parts of the Upper Midwest.

Kansas Highway Patrol's public information officer reported the fatal crash on Interstate 70, in a tweet Thursday afternoon.

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The Kansas Highway Patrol responded to at least 15 crashes over a 12-hour period and authorities closed a 143-mile stretch of the interstate from Goodland to Hays due to whiteout conditions, The Weather Channel reported.

Whiteout conditions also forced the closure of portions of Interstate 80 in Nebraska.

Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer declared disaster emergency ahead of the storm.

Wind gusts stronger than 60 mph occurred in western Kansas and central Nebraska on Thursday morning, while blizzard conditions and icy roads were also present.

Conditions are forecast to spread to the northeast Thursday night in South Dakota, southeastern North Dakota, and parts of northern and central Minnesota.

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Michigan and Minnesota should prepare for road closures and major delays at airports as dry, powdery snow creates blizzard conditions, meteorologists said. The Dakotas, Wisconsin and Minnesota could get up to 18 inches.

Minneapolis will get rain first but it could transition into snow with a few inches in the forecast. That could make the roads slick.

"Plunging temperatures on the back side of the storm can also cause wet or slushy areas to freeze and further make conditions slippery and treacherous for motorists and those traveling by foot," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski said.

Farther south, the storm will mostly dump heavy rain on a large swathe of the central and southern Plains. Blizzard conditions were seen early Thursday in west Kansas, which stranded motorists near Scott City and Leoti.

By Friday morning, the storm is expected to arrive in New England and New York and dump snow, rain and sleet. The heaviest snow will be seen in northern New England.

The winter storm came ashore Christmas Eve and brought more than a foot of snow to the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. It dumped rare snow in New Mexico and forced Interstate 25 to close temporarily.

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The heaviest snow so far occurred in Nevada -- 15 inches at Mount Rose Summit -- and California.

The storm is expected to disrupt post-holiday travel plans for a large number of Americans.

A total of 6,534 flights within, into or out of the United States were delayed while 842 were canceled, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

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