Snowstorms Rock the Midwest

The snow continues to fall in the Midwest after covering roads with ice, delaying flights, and canceling baseball games. The slick conditions have even been blamed for 6 deaths.

The Midwest has been pounded by bad weather lately. Frigid temperatures, snow, and rain have kept people indoors. Parts of the Midwest have 9 inches of accumulation on the ground. There appears to be more accumulation on the way as the drizzle of the next few days turns into snow.

The snowstorm has created slick driving conditions. On Highway 169, just a little southwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota, there was a 70 car pile up. There are two people seriously injured from this accident and many others with minor injuries. Iowa has had six deaths due to slippery road conditions. One incident happened when a mother driving a minivan with her two kids collided with another minivan in the south-central part of Iowa.

The storm has knocked out power to a lot of businesses and homes.

The bad weather has lead to the canceling of sporting events. The Houston Astros at the Chicago Cubs MLB game scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed until a later date. Just last weekend, snow kept the Seattle Marines and Cleveland Indians from playing games for four consecutive days in the city of Cleveland. The Cleveland Indians decided to move their home games to another location until the conditions were better. They took their home stand against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to Milwaukee's enclosed baseball diamond.

The storm is headed towards New England and will dump snow on northern New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire, and parts of Maine. This low pressure center will carry a possibility of 6 to 12 inches by Friday. Another snow storm is possible for the Midwest as a new storm is organizing in the Rockies. It will pick up intensity as it hits the central Plains on Friday. This storm brings another threat of severe weathers and lots of snow. It is possible that this storm can start to have an impact by Saturday of this week.

While snow is common during April, the amount the Midwest has received lately is more than usual. Record amounts of snowfall occurred in many places. Chicago's O'Hare Airport had three inches falls which surpasses the mark of 2.3 inches previously recorded on April 11th, 1954. Milwaukee's record snowfall for April 11th was shattered. They received 7 inches of snow and the prior record was 3.2 inches in 1997. Different parts of the Dakotas received 7 inches of snow which is higher than usual during this time of the year. Northern Illinois received 6 inches of snow because of the storm.

Many flights have been canceled and delayed. Over 550 flights were canceled by Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Most major cities in the Midwest have had some kind of cancellations or delays in travel.

Sources: AP News, The Weather Channel