OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Ice and snow caused dozens of car crashes in Iowa and Nebraska - at least one of which was fatal in Omaha.
But it’s the frigid temperatures coupled with strong winds that had officials warning residents Saturday to stay indoors.
“Keep in mind, the cold isn’t just cold,” National Weather Service meteorologist Barbara Mayes, in Valley, Nebraska, told the Omaha World-Herald. “It’s dangerously cold.”
In Nebraska, snow fell intermittently from Friday afternoon into Saturday, with amounts of up to three inches expected in much of the eastern part of the state. The snow moved into Iowa overnight and was expected throughout much of Saturday. One to 3 inches of snow was expected in much of Iowa, and more than 4 inches was expected in the northernmost reaches of the state.
But the National Weather Service said winds would continue to blow even small amounts of snow throughout Saturday, cutting visibility and turning single-digit to below-zero temperatures into dangerously low wind chills.
Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies in eastern Nebraska said one person was killed Friday night when his car slid off an icy road north of Omaha, hit a tree and burst into flames. Officials in Lincoln, Nebraska, reported more than 100 minor car crashes from Friday into Saturday. Dozens of crashes were also reported in Iowa, including three in northeastern Iowa’s Fayette County that caused some serious injuries.
The weather service issued winter storm advisories and a winter storm warning parts of Nebraska and Iowa, as well as wind chill warnings for all of both states. Some areas were expected to see wind chills of 30-below zero as temperatures drop below zero Saturday night.
The bone-chilling temperatures are part of an arctic blast socking the U.S. from the Rockies to the East Coast this weekend.
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