First Posted: 1/31/2015
LIMA — Football fans might have to skip the big Super Bowl party Sunday night.
Otherwise, they’ll end up spending the night snowed in as a storm is gathering steam over the southern Rockies is expected to dump up to a foot of snow on parts of the Midwest.
National Weather Service meteorologist Ricky Castro said the storm was expected to move into the Midwest on Saturday night and last through Sunday. He said it will be the most widespread storm of the season, thus far, dumping a significant amount of snow on swath of the country from Nebraska to Maine.
It’s also forecast to be unusually slow-moving, meaning accumulations of between 5 to 12 inches are possible for parts of Iowa, northern Illinois, Indiana and northwest Ohio.
“This is going to be a very high-impact storm for a large swath of the eastern half of the country,” Castro said.
In anticipation for Winter Storm Linus, a winter storm warning has been put into effect for multiple areas of Northwest Ohio from midnight Sunday until the early hours on Monday. The warning included Hardin, Mercer, Putnam, Auglaize, Allen counties, as well as others. Some locations could get as much as 8 to 10 or 15 inches of snow.
It would especially be a damper for Super Bowl parties as meteorologists expect the most intense period of snow to hit right around game time. High wind gusts up to 40 mph could also cause white outs and terrible driving conditions with low visibility and snow drifts, Sunday afternoon and evening.
Online, sheriffs are asking residents to stay off the roads or, if they have to travel, to drive slowly. Residents should also make sure to park off roadways to make it easier for officials to clear the streets.
