A WHITE CHRISTMAS!

A powerful storm lumbered across the nation’s midsection with heavy snow, sleet and rain Thursday, glazing roads and disrupting air travel but promising a white Christmas for some.

The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of Oklahoma, North Dakota, Minnesota and Texas. It cautioned that travel would be extremely dangerous in those areas through the weekend and that drivers should pack a winter survival kit including flashlight and water in case of emergency.

Winter storm warnings were in effect across the the Plains and the Midwest, with a foot or two of snow possible in some areas by Christmas Day.

Scott Blair, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Topeka, Kan., said the wind was becoming a serious issue in central Kansas, with wind speeds of up to 25 mph and gusts reaching 40 mph.

“We’re going to see blowing snow,” Blair said. “The big concern comes later when we see snowfall with the wind, causing reduced visibility.”

Road conditions were particularly bad in northwest Kansas, where 8 inches of snow had fallen overnight. Interstate 70 was completely ice-packed in western Kansas.

“It’s kind of hard to stay on the roads. You’ve got to go slow,” Jason Juhan, a clerk at the Love’s truck stop in Goodland, Kan., said Wednesday. “People are just trying to get through and get to where they need to as fast as they can.”

Still, he saw an upside: “It’s been a few years since we’ve actually had a white Christmas out this way.”

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