Winter storms build ahead of Thanksgiving travel

Winter weather woes are expected to create havoc for holiday travelers this week, as snow, sleet and slippery roads promise to make Thanksgiving travel tricky.

Storm watches and warnings blanketed several northern tier states and U.S. mountain areas on Monday as a frigid air mass spilled south from Canada into the western and central United States.

Freezing rain fell in several states, while several inches of snow were forecast for the Dakotas, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. Avalanche warnings were posted for some areas.

In Washington state, the Seattle-Tacoma region received a rare pre-Thanksgiving snowfall on Monday with an inch or two accumulating in some areas, enough to slow the morning commute and prompt some schools to close early or cancel classes altogether.

Northern California also was under a winter weather advisory.

"Winter is here, just in time to screw up the holiday," said National Weather Service spokesman Pat Slattery.

Sub-zero conditions will make conditions particularly harsh, Slattery said.

"We're looking at a good part of the northern central Plains where temperatures are going to have a hard time getting above zero," he said. "We've got the cold air just pouring in."

In Grand Forks, North Dakota, the winter storm was already well underway. Six inches of snow fell over the weekend and more was falling Monday. A second storm moving in on Thanksgiving Day should drop another 3 or 4 inches of snow.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport already has felt the winter weather with runway closures over the weekend.
Up to 24 inches of snow were seen falling in western Wyoming mountain areas this week. And in Des Moines, Iowa, freezing rain was forecast to turn roads into skating rinks.

In lower elevations of the Pacific Northwest, more accustomed to rain than snow, the early blast of winter made traffic treacherous. The drive from Tacoma to Seattle, usually about 30 minutes, was taking double that time and more, according to the state Department of Transportation.

But area ski resorts welcomed heavy snow blanketing mountain slopes. The Summit at Snoqualmie, the closest ski resort to Seattle, reported a foot of fresh snow on Monday morning, with snow continuing to fall into midday.

Crystal Mountain resort, several hours southeast of Seattle, planned to open for the Thanksgiving holiday as snow continued to fall there.