MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – A blizzard roared into North Dakota on Monday and was expected to dump up to a foot of snow in neighboring Minnesota before moving east over the mid-Atlantic states, where it could bury the Washington area with its biggest snowfall of the winter, the National Weather Service said.
Blowing snow and drifts up to 3 feet left parts of northeast Montana and the northwest North Dakota oil region with visibility at a quarter of mile under blizzard conditions that were expected to last into Monday afternoon, the weather service said.
Grand Forks, on the eastern border with Minnesota, reported 6 inches of snow on Monday morning and was expecting about 10 inches overall.
The North Dakota transportation department is recommending “no travel” on numerous roads across the northwestern part of the state where there is a blizzard, and a stretch of Interstate 94 from west of Fargo to east of Bismarck.
The state, known for winter blizzards, took the latest storm in stride.
“It’s a normal late winter storm for us,” said Adam Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, North Dakota.
The Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area expected a couple of inches of snow Monday from a separate storm system and up to 10