Thanksgiving weekend weather: Brutal cold grips half of US as crippling lake-effect snow hits Great Lakes region

CNN-

As fierce snowfall threatens to strand residents in parts of the Great Lakes region, millions of vacationers face the harsh Arctic air that will soon blow across half the entire country.

Temperatures will drop 15 to 25 degrees across much of the eastern United States over the next few days, from Minnesota to Texas.

And frigid winds over the near-record-temperature Great Lakes will mark the start of the first major lake-effect snow event of the season.

More than 6 million people under winter weather alerts could see between 6 and 12 inches of snow by this weekend. The winter blast could dump up to 5 feet of snow in places like Buffalo and Watertown, New York.

Expect hazardous travel and near whiteout conditions Friday in northern portions of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, the National Weather Service field office in Gaylord warned.

Vacationers could be stranded for days in parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Heavy snowfall caused by the lake effect is likely to disrupt travel through Monday, the NWS Weather Prediction Center said.

A prolonged lake-effect snow event will bury some areas east of Lakes Erie and Ontario with several feet of snow today through early next week, the NWS office in Buffalo said.

There will be localized areas that will be paralyzed due to lake snow.

Lake-effect snow that hit areas east of the Great Lakes throughout Friday left more than 2 feet of snow in some areas along Lake Erie.

Girard, Pennsylvania, recorded 25.7 inches; Conneaut, Ohio, saw 23 inches; and Erie, Pennsylvania, received 21 inches of snow.

The wind patterns responsible for the heavy snowfall show no signs of changing over the weekend and some areas could end up with 4 to 6 feet of snow by Monday.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday declared a state of emergency in 11 counties, including Erie County, where Buffalo is located, due to the threat of lake-effect snow, she said. she announced on X.

The New York State Thruway Authority reported a blanket of snow on Interstate 90 along Lake Erie Friday afternoon as snow plow crews worked to clear the roads.

Heavy snow prompted county and highway officials to close portions of several roads Friday, including parts of I-90 in New York and Pennsylvania and I-86 in Pennsylvania.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in New York, near Lake Ontario, which is in a state of emergency, has issued a non-necessary travel advisory urging travelers to stay off the roads.

Please stay home and stay safe, the sheriff's office announced on Facebook.

Tom Laird, 47, of Erie, Pa., is used to snow in winter, but says the severity of Friday's storm surprised him.

It was crazy, no one expected that, he told CNN. This took us a bit by surprise given its scale.

The trip to his local grocery store to stock up, which normally takes eight minutes, took Laird about 35 minutes, he said.

During his trip, he saw several cars stuck on the side of the road and saw state agents pulling people out.

Laird said he had no problems because his car had winter tires and four-wheel drive. The person he hired to plow his driveway and yard stopped four times, but it was hard to tell.

It looks like he didn't even come here, said Laird, who added that his yard was covered in snow again.

The combination of strong winds and numbing temperatures could be deadly in parts of the central United States.

At the height of the Arctic outbreak, minimum wind chills are expected to fall below zero for much of the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest, the Weather Prediction Center said.

Wind chills across much of Dakota and Minnesota will be below -15 degrees, with parts of North Dakota possibly reaching -30 to -40 degrees. This poses an increased risk of hypothermia and frostbite to exposed skin. Have a winter survival kit if you must travel.

For many, this blast of winter will bring the coldest temperatures since mid-February. About 70% of the country will experience subzero temperatures over the next few days.

Frost watches are in effect for about 15 million people in states from Texas to South Carolina, with freezing temperatures expected Saturday morning.

Travel will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, due to immense snow on the roads and very poor visibility. The National Weather Service urged people in the hardest-hit areas to delay their travel plans if possible.

Travel disruptions are likely, particularly on I-90 between Cleveland and Buffalo and I-81 north of Syracuse, the Weather Prediction Center warned.

Travel problems had already begun Friday afternoon in Cattaraugus County in western New York, where traffic conditions on Route 219 were very, very bad, with many cars and trucks off the road , Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a news conference. Cattaraugus County is also under a state of emergency.

Now is not a good time to drive in these areas of our region, Poloncarz said.

But other than the Great Lakes region, no major weather nightmares are expected this weekend.

CNN's Jillian Sykes and Ashley R. Williams contributed to this report.

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