A winter storm rolled into nearly every state in the Lower 48 on Friday, causing multiple fatalities and injuries, as officials issued severe weather warnings to millions of people.
Marking the winter season’s first extreme Arctic front, thunderstorms caused hail and strong winds across parts of the South, freezing temperatures and blizzard warnings to the Midwest, and heavy rainfall in the East.
Two men were rescued from a recent avalanche in Idaho, while a third body was found and identified near Stevens Peak in Shoshone County on Friday afternoon, the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office confirmed. Whitworth College President Scott McQuilkin identified the dead man as Corey Zalewski, who graduated from the school with a master’s in business in 2014.
In Wisconsin, a Franklin man died while snowplowing his driveway, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
As temperatures plunged in Chicago, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed a man identified as Andy Siemionko died from cold exposure.
Hundreds of flight cancellations and delays affected airports from New York to Seattle, with over 2,000 flights canceled on Friday due to winter weather. On top of the weather, Alaska Airlines extended its cancellation of Boeing 737 MAX 9 flights through Tuesday after a door plug detached midair during a flight out of Portland, Oregon, last week.
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Headed into Saturday morning, high winds left tens of thousands without power as officials urged bypassers to report any downed wires.
“We’ve restored power to more than 60k customers and we are working through the night and around the clock,” We Energies, which services Wisconsin and parts of Michigan, said Friday night. Nearly 90,000 customers are still without service as of Saturday afternoon, according to the electrical company.
