Winter Storm Affects Christmas Travel

For holiday travelers, a massive winter storm in the Midwest may affect transportation across the country. The winter storm circling Chicago will likely cause flight cancellations and delays for travelers with stopovers at O'Hare International Airport.

The storm's biggest impact for the D.C. area will be wind, with gusts up to 40 mph possible Friday and 60 mph Saturday, said Storm Team 4 Chief Meteorologist Tom Kierein. The big winds Saturday could cause local flight delays.

Expect wind chills in the low 30s Friday and Saturday -- possibly starting in the teens Saturday. A high wind watch is in place for Saturday. We could see downed trees and power outages during the day Saturday.

And while there shouldn't be a snow impact here, officials in far western Maryland are urging citizens to prepare for the first big snowstorm since Superstorm Sandy. The western part of West Virginia was already seeing snow early Friday.

The public safety agency in Garrett County, Md., said Thursday that the storm could cause significant power outages from falling trees and branches that were weakened by nearly three feet of snow in October.

The National Weather Service has issued winter storm and blizzard warnings for parts of Garrett County and northern West Virginia. The area could get 10 to 18 inches of snow between Friday morning and Saturday night.

The weather service is also predicting winds of 15 to 25 mph, with gusts up to 70 mph.

Late Thursday afternoon, Maryland State police put a snow emergency plan in effect in Allegany County.

Kierein said that Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo and parts of New England could all be affected Friday by the same storm with wind and snow.


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