Thanksgiving Weekend: Arctic Blast to Hit Several States

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The first big snowfall of the season is blanketing towns in upstate New York along lakes Erie and Ontario in the middle of the hectic holiday travel and shopping weekend, while numbing cold and heavy snow could persist into next week and cause hazards in the Great Lakes, Plains and Midwest regions.

A state of emergency has been declared for parts of New York, causing problems for scores of Thanksgiving travelers trying to return home.

“Travel will be extremely difficult and hazardous this weekend, especially in areas where multiple feet of snow may accumulate very quickly,” the National Weather Service said Saturday.

Part of I-90 in Pennsylvania was closed Saturday, and as were westbound lanes of the New York Thruway heading toward Pennsylvania.

Nearly two feet (61 centimeters) of snow has already fallen in parts of New York, Ohio and Michigan and some 29 inches (73 centimeters) of snow was recorded in Pennsylvania’s northwestern tip.

This week’s blast of frigid Arctic air also brought bitterly cold temperatures of 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit below average to the Northern Plains, the weather service said. That prompted cold-weather advisories over parts of North Dakota.

Cold air was expected to move over the eastern third of the U.S. by Monday, the weather service said, with temperatures about 10 degrees below average.

Parts of Michigan were equally battered by heavy lake-effect snow. A winter storm warning was in effect Saturday through Sunday for regions along Lake Michigan. An additional accumulation of snow of up to 14 inches was expected for the Sault Ste. Marie area. Travel could be difficult or impossible, the weather service said.

While no snow is forecast in the Deep South, the temperatures have dipped below freezing.

“This is the start of our winter season,” said Sam Marlow, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Atlanta.

“This morning, we got below freezing for almost all of north and central Georgia.” And in the…