Vehicles drive in downtown Minneapolis as snow falls, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. A winter storm took aim at the Upper Midwest on Tuesday, threatening to bring blizzard conditions, bitterly cold temperatures and 2 feet of snow in a three-day onslaught that could affect more than 40 million Americans. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
By Trisha Ahmed and Jim Salter
A monster winter storm took aim at the Upper Midwest on Tuesday, threatening to bring blizzard conditions, bitterly cold temperatures and 2 feet of snow in a three-day onslaught that could affect more than 40 million Americans.
The storm was to begin around midday and continue through Thursday morning in parts of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin, with winds gusting as high as 50 mph in some places and wind chills as frigid as minus 50 degrees (minus 46 Celsius).
The snowfall could be historic, even in a region accustomed to heavy snow. As much as 25 inches may pile up, with the heaviest amounts falling across east-central Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin, the National Weather Service said.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area could see 2 feet of snow or more for the first since in over 30 years.
Some families scrambled to get shopping done before the weather closed in. At a Costco in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, Molly Schirmer stocked up on heat-and-serve dinners and Mexican Coca-Colas, knowing that she and her two teenagers might get stuck at home.
The beginning of the year is critical for those in need of blood transfusions as people tend to stop donating during the holidays. The winter in general also experiences a dropoff as donors get sick more frequently.
President Joe Biden is set to tour damage and be briefed on recovery efforts after devastating storms hit California in recent weeks, killing at least 20 people and causing destruction across 41 of the state's 58 counties.
The federal government says it will begin a targeted crackdown on nursing homes’ abuse of antipsychotic drugs and misdiagnoses of schizophrenia in patients.
Pallbearers in La Verkin, Utah, carry a casket at a funeral for victims of Michael Haight, who killed his wife, their five children, and his mother-in-law before turning the gun on himself. The funeral was held on Jan. 4, 2023. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)
