Parts of Midwest are buried in a foot of snow after experiencing its first wintry storm of the season Saturday, making travel conditions difficult.
National Weather Service meteorologist Bruce Sullivan says that Marengo, Ill. got 12 inches overnight and it continues to fall, while Chicago's O'Hare International Airport had four inches of snow. The rest of the north and northwest area are buried in snow between four to eight inches deep, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Snow reached up to 18 inches deep in southeastern South Dakota. Tractor-trailers had to pull off from slow-moving expressways in South Dakota to park.
The Illinois Tollway, which maintains interstate tollways in 11 counties of the state, said that it had 185 snowplows ready to go and 84,000 tons of salt stockpiled for the winter, according to Fox News.
While it is not unusual for snow to fall in the Midwest just before Thanksgiving, with the hazardous conditions brought by the snow, the Iowa Department of Transportation warned residents in Des Moines who are planning to depart early for the Thanksgiving holiday to forego travelling until further notice is given.
Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Nathan Ludwig said that troopers in northern and western Iowa were seeing many cars in ditches, especially near Mason City and Council Bluffs, according to ABC News.
