Officials: Stay home during risky blizzard

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Blizzard conditions made travel hazardous Sunday across the northern Plains as officials closed major highways and urged people to stay home.

The National Weather Service estimated as much as 13 inches of snow had fallen at Williston and about a foot in Bismarck, and strong wind whipped the powdery snow and cut visibility.

Bismarck’s temperature at 1 p.m. was minus 8 degrees, but the wind made it feel more like minus 35, Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Ayd said.

“You need two parkas,” he said.

In Fargo, the Cass County sheriff’s office said visibility was down to zero with heavy drifting on the roads.

North Dakota officials said a 200-mile stretch of Interstate 94 was closed from Jamestown to Alexandria, Minn., along with the entire stretch of I-29 in the state from the South Dakota border to Canada. A section of I-29 north of Brookings, S.D., also was closed late Sunday morning.

The South Dakota Highway Patrol said that Interstate 90 reopened after being closed in the morning but that the dangerous wind chills, snowdrifts and areas of zero visibility remained. Secondary roads in some other parts of the state were under a “no travel” advisory.