Winter storm to impact 70 million Americans with blizzard conditions
Katie Byrne reports Americans are waking up to power outages and flight cancellations.
A coast-to-coast winter storm is impacting much of the western U.S. on Friday, bringing widespread power outages and complicating travel conditions.
In the early morning, more than 100,000 customers were left without power in California, according to outage tracker PowerOutage.US.
There, snow fell on Thursday and closed roads, as well as portions of Interstate 80.
Residents took to social media, in amazement, to post videos and photos of snow up and down the state. Snow was shown falling in Pasadena, Oakland and Santa Cruz.
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People walk along a snow-covered Twin Lakes State Beach in Santa Cruz, California, on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (Karen Krenis via AP)
Southern California was under a blizzard warning through Saturday, marking the first time that has happened since 1989. San Diego was issued its first.
Evacuation warnings were issued in Ventura County for four areas that were considered unstable after being hit hard by storms in January.
The National Weather Service said Friday that multiple rounds of heavy snowfall and strong winds would lead to blizzard conditions in higher terrain and hit areas where snow is unusual. Heavy rainfall and flooding is possible in Southern California.
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A person uses skis to get through the snow-covered Grant Park neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, Thursday Feb. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Drew Callister)
Up the coast, Oregon's major city of Portland was largely shut down after close ot a foot of snow fell unexpectedly. It took drivers there by surprise on Wednesday night.
Flight tracker FlightAware showed nearly 20 flights had been canceled at Portland International Airport on Friday morning. Delta Air Lines had canceled 85.
Ice storm damage in the Milwood neighborhood in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (Rodney Coleman-Robinson/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)
Storms have already battered states across the country, with power outages also reported in Michigan, Illinois, New York and Georgia.
In Michigan, where power outages affected hundreds of thousands of customers this week, a firefighter died Wednesday after coming in contact with a downed power line in the village of Paw Paw.
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While the National Weather Service said the stormy weather over the Midwest and Great Lakes was winding down, frigid temperatures were expected to move into the Northeast on Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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