CHICAGO -- Travel conditions remained hazardous Monday as a winter storm swept across much of the northern Plains, with blowing and drifting snow forcing the closure of an airport and creating near-zero visibility on some roads.
The combination of freezing rain, snow and high winds that forced vast stretches of highways in the Dakotas to be shut down Sunday continued into Monday, and authorities issued no-travel warnings for much of North Dakota.
Meanwhile, in parts of the South, unseasonably warm weather was raising the risk of tornadoes and damaging thunderstorms. About 3 million people in parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee faced the possibility of damaging wind gusts and isolated tornadoes Monday, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said, but no major outbreak was expected.
Most of North Dakota remained under a blizzard warning Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Bismarck. Severe whiteout conditions led to the closure of Minot International Airport, which wasn't expected to reopen until 3 a.m. today. The airports serving Fargo and Bismarck also listed flight cancellations on their websites.
Winds gusting 40 mph to 50 mph also led to delays and cancellations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The storm also caused power failures in the Dakotas and Nebraska.
The South Dakota Rural Electric Association said roughly 16,400 of its customers were without power Monday evening. In Nebraska, winds gusting up to 70 mph were cited for hundreds of power failures in central and eastern parts of the state Sunday -- although by Monday morning, utilities reported that power had been restored to most customers.
The North Dakota Transportation Department closed most of a 240-mile stretch of Interstate 94 on Sunday night, from the Montana border to Jamestown. That stretch remained closed Monday. Parts of U.S. 2, 52 and 281 were also closed because of snow, ice and near-zero visibility.
Interstate 90, which had been closed for 260 miles between the Wyoming border and Chamberlain, S.D., was reopened to traffic Monday.
No-travel advisories were issued for much of North Dakota, including the Williston, Dickinson, Minot, Bismarck, Jamestown, Valley City and Grand Forks areas.
A Section on 12/27/2016