A surprise spring snowstorm is closing roads and grounding flights in the Midwest, just a day after much of the region experienced temperatures in the 70s. The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel and TODAY's Al Roker report.
By Erin McClam and John Newland, NBC News
Blizzard warnings were in effect Tuesday in Colorado, where the temperature plunged more than 50 degrees in less than 24 hours and the wind chill approached zero. Wyoming got more than a foot of snow, and forecasters said hurricane-force blasts of frigid air were possible in Utah.
The culprit is a deep dip in the jet stream that swung west and pulled arctic air far into the country. As it collides with warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, strong storms and tornadoes are possible in the Great Plains and Texas.
?It?s just brutal to be outside,? said Eric Fisher, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.
Full coverage from Weather.com
In Denver, the temperature plummeted from 71 degrees at 2 p.m. Monday to 16 degrees at 7 a.m. Tuesday, with a wind chill of 1. More than 250 flights were canceled into and out of Denver on Tuesday alone.
In Wyoming, authorities closed two stretches of interstate more than 100 miles long ? I-25 between Cheyenne and Douglas and I-80 between Laramie and Rawlins. More than a foot of snow fell by midmorning in the city of Lander, and one town near the Nebraska state line reported 2-foot snow drifts.
Snow was also falling at midday in Colorado, Utah, the Dakotas and Minnesota. Forecasters said Denver could get as much as 11 inches and South Dakota more than a foot. In Utah, wind gusts of 75 mph were possible, The Weather Channel reported. Colorado Springs reported a gust of 60 mph.
Brennan Linsley / AP
A man crosses the street during a winter storm that brought snow and a fast plunge in temperature overnight to downtown Denver on Tuesday.
The calendar may say spring, but April is the second-snowiest month of the year in Denver. The city has averaged 9 inches in April since 1882, second only to the 11.5 inches it gets in an average March, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather pattern threatened to bring damaging wind, large hail and perhaps tornadoes to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa, and weaker storms later in the day in the Ohio Valley.
?We?re looking at the gamut today for severe weather,? Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said.
As the system moves east, severe storms are possible Wednesday across a boomerang-shaped swath of the country from the Texas Gulf Coast north through Indiana and into western Pennsylvania.
Severe storms could move into Georgia, West Virginia and the Carolinas on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published on Tue Apr 9, 2013 4:59 AM EDT
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