Midwest storm disrupts air travel

Tammy Webber

Monday, Dec. 11, 2000 | 11:43 a.m.

CHICAGO -- A developing storm blew snow across parts of the Midwest today, leading United Airlines to cancel about half its flights at O'Hare International Airport.

The city had more than 250 snow plows on the streets, with 60 more on standby, Ray Padvoiskis of the Streets and Sanitation Department said.

A blizzard warning was posted across northern Illinois and northern Indiana, with up to a foot of snow forecast today in the Chicago area and southeastern Wisconsin, and 20 inches possible by Tuesday morning in northern Indiana, the National Weather Service said.

Snow also fell from central Nebraska to Michigan. Most school districts in Iowa canceled classes today, and snow or cold also led to school closings in parts of South Dakota, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

"I'm going to go sledding if it warms up enough," said 12-year-old Hannah Menzel of Bellevue, Neb., "work on my Christmas dress and build a snowman and a fort."

Temperatures plunged on the northern Plains, where Dickinson, N.D., had a low this morning of 17 below zero with a wind chill of 51 below.

"It's pretty fresh out here," said Clyde Krebs, owner of the Circle K grain elevator at Glen Ullin, N.D., west of Bismarck, where the morning temperature was about 8 below.

Meanwhile a Southwest Airlines jet bound for Las Vegas slid off an icy taxiway Sunday night at Kansas City International Airport, with no injuries reported.

The Boeing 737, with 29 passengers and a crew of five on board, was leaving the terminal area a little before 10 p.m. The nose wheel and one of two rear landing-gear wheels left the taxiway surface and went onto the grass, said Kansas City Aviation Department spokesman Joe McBride.

"There is freezing rain, and it's slick," McBride said of conditions at the airport.

The Southwest Flight 738 got stuck, and passengers were returned to the terminal on buses.

United Airlines usually has 440 departures and an equal number of arrivals at Chicago's O'Hare each day, United spokesman Joe Hopkins said Sunday.

Because O'Hare is United's largest hub, cancellations are expected to affect flights across the country, Hopkins said. Travelers from both coasts will be routed through United's Denver hub or other airports.

Also, American Airlines began canceling flights to and from O'Hare late Sunday, said spokeswoman Sonja Whitemon. About 60 departing flights were canceled today out of 171 American flights in and out of the airport, she said.

Farther north, more than half of the morning flights at Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport were delayed or canceled by blowing snow, said spokeswoman Pat Rowe.

Temperatures varied by almost 50 degrees from northern Illinois to the southern parts of the state, and while snow fell in Chicago, thunderstorms rattled southern Illinois during the morning. Central Illinois had freezing rain, with up to a half-inch of ice on the ground at Springfield, said weather service meteorologist Paul Merzlock.

Elsewhere, cold air streamed southward across the Plains, plunging temperatures to freezing levels in northern Texas. In the Panhandle, Amarillo had a low of 13 degrees and light snow. A mixture of snow and rain was possible Tuesday morning as far south as El Paso.

Freezing rain iced highways in Oklahoma, causing hundreds of traffic accidents.