A major snowstorm in the Midwest and Great Lakes brought winter to some Thanksgiving travelers, and forecasters said the northeast U.S. could get its own early winter storm next week.
Winter storm warnings and advisories extended from Montana to Ohio, the National Weather Service said. Forecasters warned there could be airport delays and slowed traffic with snow falling at more than an inch per hour in some areas.
The storm dumped more than 8 inches of snow on northern Iowa by Saturday morning, and at least that much was expected in Chicago, elsewhere in Illinois, and in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.
Jim Vondruska / Bloomberg via Getty Images 
Up to 54 million people are under winter weather alerts, CBS News Philadelphia meteorologist Andrew Kozak said, as the system moves across the northern Plains. Arctic air is driving temperatures into the teens and 20s across the central U.S., with wind chills that will likely dip below zero before the weekend ends, Kozak said.
Airports in Chicago and St. Louis reported delays of about an hour in the morning, according to FlightAware.com, as one of the busiest travel days cranked up after Thanksgiving. More than 1,000 flights were canceled at Chicago airports as of Saturday afternoon.
CBS News 
Icicles formed at a slant on a Chicago pier thanks to the wind, and Lake Michigan’s waters were choppy with whitecaps. Motorists drove cautiously along snowy and slushy roads.
Snow-covered roads and slow travel were reported across Iowa and northern Illinois and Indiana.
Westbound Interstate 70 near Terre Haute, Indiana, was closed around noon after at least 45 vehicles crashed, Indiana State Police said on social media.
No one was seriously injured, and officials estimated that it would take six hours to reopen the highway. Troopers were also helping people in the eastbound lanes who were sliding off the road, Sgt. Matt Ames said.
David Berding / Getty Images 
The sheriff of Grant County, about 65 miles northeast of Indianapolis, urged people to stay off the roads.
“Stay home, have a nice cup of hot chocolate, watch some TV, play some games,” Sheriff Del Garcia said in a video.
Snow was falling in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where No. 1 Ohio State played 15th ranked Michigan in their traditional season-ending rivalry game. Heavy snow was expected at other Big Ten games, nighttime contests at Illinois and Michigan State.
Meteorologists said that so far, forecast conditions did not meet blizzard warning criteria — winds of at least 35 mph, visibilities of less than a quarter mile and lasting more than three hours.
The same storm and cold front was also expected to bring thunderstorms and a chance of heavy rain Saturday from southern Missouri down to Louisiana and Texas.
Forecasters said another winter storm was becoming more likely Monday and Tuesday, with freezing rain and ice in the Appalachians and moderate to heavy snow possible in the interior Northeast.
National Weather Service 
More than 81.8 million people were predicted to travel 50 miles or more during the Thanksgiving holiday period, AAA said. The Transportation Security Administration said the agency is planning to screen more than three million travelers on Sunday.
Adam Stahl, the senior official performing the duties of the deputy TSA administrator, said in a statement, “We are projecting that the Sunday after Thanksgiving will be one of the busiest travel days in TSA history.”
Airlines for America, the trade association for the leading U.S. airlines, predicted that carriers will fly a record 31 million passengers from last Friday through this coming Monday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday that the TSA is back to staffing levels from before the government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, which led to reductions in flights.
