Winter storm Diaz brought heavy snow to the west, plains, and northeast
- Winter storm Diaz brought heavy snow to the northeast.
- Diaz produced feet of snow in parts of the northern plains and western mountains.
- Blizzard conditions continued for several days in Northern Plains.
Winter Storm Diaz began battering the West with heavy mountain snow late last week and into this past weekend.
Up to 70 inches of snow buried the Sierra Nevada and up to 15 inches of snow blanketed the mountains of Southern California.
(He watches: A train plows through the thick Sierra snow)
Portions of the Arizona highlands picked up between 6 and 12 inches of snow. About 2 to 4 inches of snow fell near Prescott, and thunderstorms were seen over Sedona.
Wasatch experienced heavy snow, including 33 inches at Alta. But heavy snow in Utah wasn’t limited to higher elevations. Salt Lake City International Airport measured feet of snow from December 12-14.
Then the storm intensified over the plains, and the snowfall totals were impressive.
There have been numerous reports of more than 20 inches of snow falling in western South Dakota. The highest totals were in the northern Black Hills, where up to 48 inches were reported south of Spearfish.
Another area with particularly heavy snow totals was Arrowhead in northeastern Minnesota to far northwest Wisconsin.
Snow in Finland and Minnesota, located about halfway between Duluth and the Canadian border, was 29 inches thick. Totals around the very varied terrain of Duluth-Superior ranged from just 2 inches near the harbor in Superior to more than 20 inches in the hills north of downtown Duluth. Diaz was a Top 10 two-day snowstorms recorded for the city, according to the National Weather Service. More than 100,000 customers were affected by power outages in parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota due to the heavy snow and gusty wet winds.
Numerous other snow totals greater than 1 foot have been reported in the Dakota, western Nebraska, northern Colorado, Wyoming, and eastern Montana.
Snowfall reports for the 72-hour period, which ended Thursday afternoon, December 15, show many in excess of 12 inches in the Northern Plains, Upper Midwest, High Plains, and Rocky Mountains.
(photo: NOAA/NWS/WPC)
Then there were blizzard conditions, which resulted in many roads being closed in Northeastern Colorado, western Nebraska And South Dakota. This included stretches of Interstates 29, 76, 80 and 90.
Winds gusting more than 50 mph have sometimes dumped snow in drifts over 6 feet high in these areas, particularly in the storm-prone Northern Black Hills region of western South Dakota.
If that weren’t enough as the storm rages on the plains, Freezing rain accumulated up to half an inch thick On rooftops near Watertown, in eastern South Dakota.
In the Northeast, several cities in the White and Green Mountains reported more than 2 feet of snow.
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