(AP) — A surge of Arctic air brought strong winds, heavy snow and frigid temperatures to the Great Lakes and Northeast on Tuesday, a day after a bomb cyclone barreling across the Midwest left tens of thousands of customers\u00a0without power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blustery winds were expected to add to the chill, with low temperatures dipping below freezing as far south as the Florida panhandle, the National Weather Service said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wild storm hit parts of the Plains and Great Lakes this week with sharply colder air, strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain, leading to treacherous travel. Forecasters said it intensified quickly enough to meet the criteria of a\u00a0bomb cyclone, a system that strengthens rapidly as pressure drops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kristen Schultz, who was heading home to Alaska, said it took her four hours to get to the Minneapolis airport on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust give yourself plenty of extra time and that way, even if things go smoothly, you don’t have to be stressed out,\u201d she said, \u201cand you’re ready in case things don’t go so smoothly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nationwide, more than 115,000 customers were without power Tuesday morning, around a third of them in Michigan, according to Poweroutage.us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the storm moves into Canada, the frigid air trailing behind it will spread across much of the eastern two-thirds of the country, the National Weather Service said, powering the\u00a0lake-effect\u00a0\u201csnow machine\u201d in areas downwind of the Great Lakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some areas in western and upstate New York saw a foot or more of snow Monday and their totals could reach up to 3 feet (91 centimeters) this week, forecasters said. Strong winds on Monday, including an 81 mph (130 kph) gust in Buffalo, New York, knocked down trees and wires across the region, the weather service said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt this point, the worst does seem to be over, and we are expecting conditions to improve especially by later today,\u201d said Andrew Orrison, a weather service meteorologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Videos on social media show people struggling to walk in the windy conditions and a waterway in downtown Buffalo clogged with tree branches and other debris stemming from a windblown surge from Lake Erie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just south of Buffalo in Lackawanna, Diane Miller was caught on video being blown off the front steps of her daughter\u2019s house and landing in some bushes. She wasn\u2019t seriously hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI opened her door and the wind caught me, and I went flying,\u201d Miller told WKBW-TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whiteout conditions were still possible in some areas, forecasters said, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned people in impacted areas to avoid unnecessary travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fierce winds on Lake Erie had sent water surging toward the basin\u2019s eastern end near Buffalo while lowering water on the western side in Michigan to expose normally submerged lakebed \u2014 even the wreck of a car and a snowmobile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kevin Aldrich, 33, a maintenance worker from Monroe, Michigan, said he has never seen the lake recede so much and was surprised Monday to spot remnants of piers dating back to the 1830s. He posted photos on social media of wooden pilings sticking up several feet from the muck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere those are at would typically be probably 12 feet deep,\u201d or 3.6 meters, he said. \u201cWe can usually drive our boat over them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dangerous wind chills across parts of North Dakota and Minnesota plunged as low as minus 30 F (minus 34 C) on Monday. And in northeast West Virginia, rare nearly hurricane-force winds were recorded on a mountain near Dolly Sods, according to the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the West Coast, strong Santa Ana winds with isolated gusts topping 70 mph (112 kph) brought down trees in parts of Southern California where\u00a0recent storms\u00a0had saturated the soil. Downed powerlines forced the shutdown of a freeway north of Los Angeles for several hours on Monday. Wind advisories had expired by evening, but blustery conditions were expected through Saturday, along with thunderstorms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rain on New Year\u2019s Day could potentially soak the\u00a0Rose Parade in Pasadena\u00a0for the first time in about two decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"