The Midwest is bracing for yet another wave of snow and ice. Forecasters say this latest system could be the roughest of the winter, and the Chicago area could be one of the hardest hit. NBC News' Jay Gray reports.
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News
A storm packing heavy, wet, travel-snarling snow threatened the Midwest on Tuesday with its hardest punch of the winter, and forecasters said it could curl through the major cities of the Northeast later this week.
Chicago expected up to a foot of snow, the most there since a blizzard in 2011. More than 1,100 flights were canceled into and out of O?Hare and Midway airports. Minneapolis-St. Paul reported delays up to an hour, where more than 100 flights had been canceled, according to FlightAware.com.
The city of Chicago and the Illinois Tollway, a tangle of highways around the city, deployed their full fleets of snowplows, 466 in all. Dozens of school systems closed for the day. The evening rush hour was expected to be brutal.
The heaviest snow Tuesday was expected to be in a band stretching from Minnesota and Wisconsin down through the eastern nose of Iowa and across through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and the central Appalachian Mountains.
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Forecasts from The Weather Channel called for up to 5 inches of snow in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa and up to a foot around Chicago and in northern Indiana.
In Wisconsin, which was being pummeled by snow early Tuesday, teams of divers plumbed the frigid waters of the Red Cedar River , looking for the driver of a semi that plunged off Interstate 94 before dawn, NBC affiliate KARE in Minneapolis said.
Jim Mone / AP
Workers remove snow from cars at an auto dealership Tuesday in Bloomington, Minn.
The storm promised heavy, wet snow, sometimes called ?heart attack snow? because it is the most work to shovel.
?It is taxing their bodies and their hearts,? Dr. David Marmor, a cardiologist at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Ill., told The Associated Press. ?People are really testing their limits, and if they?re already at high risk, they are better off paying the kid across the street to do it.?
Chicago has reported about 20 inches of snow this winter and usually gets about 30, so the storm could erase the snow deficit for the season.
Predicting the storm?s path later this week is tricky, forecasters said. Some computer models had it heading straight east, while others forecast that it would curl to the northeast and sweep through New England.
Either way, the Washington metro area was expected to be hit hard. The Weather Channel?s forecast called for 10 to 15 inches of snow there through Thursday, likely causing delays at Reagan National, Baltimore-Washington and Dulles airports.
Congress was already taking precautions. A Democratic hearing on background checks for gun purchases, scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed because of the weather. Congressional leaders also talked about rescheduling votes in the full House on Wednesday and Thursday.
Because the snow was expected to be heavy and wet, the Washington area prepared for power outages. Baltimore Gas and Electric asked for 500 utility workers from out of state to help and encouraged people to prepare emergency kits.
Rain was expected to change to snow Wednesday in Baltimore and Philadelphia and Wednesday night in New York, threatening the Thursday morning commute there. The Weather Channel said New York could get 4 to 6 inches of snow.
Meteorologists said the storm could pack fierce wind gusts as well ? up to 60 mph, tropical storm strength, along the New Jersey shore.
How much snow New England gets depends on which track the storm takes. If it tracks to the east, the region could get 1 to 6 inches of snow. If it bends to the north, the totals could be closer to a foot.
The driver of a semi was killed when his truck plunged into Wisconsin's Red Cedar River. Rescue crews are searching for the missing passenger. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
This story was originally published on Tue Mar 5, 2013 4:58 AM EST
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