BUFFALO, N.Y. — A deadly, windy storm that has paralyzed a wide swath of the nation for days left bitter cold behind as it finally made its exit Thursday, with temperatures below freezing in several states and gusts that made it feel as cold as minus 25.
Power failures in the Midwest, dozens of lost hunters in the West and howling winds that helped blow over a bus in New York provided just a few lingering miseries from the first major storm of the season.
Emergency rooms took in people who had slipped and fallen, overdone shoveling or reached their hands into clogged snowblowers, while tow trucks freed drivers from the sides of icy roads and people simply struggled to get around in the frigid winds.
“Like I stuck my face in the freezer,” was how Bincy Mathew described the feeling in Chicago on Thursday, complaining about his watering eyes: “I think they are going to freeze up.”
The days-old storm made its first punch in the West before plowing across two-thirds of the country with heavy snow, icy winds, and even lightning and thunder before preparing to blow out to sea off Maine.
In northern Arizona, authorities said they had resolved all reports of stranded or overdue hunters who were caught in deep snow and freezing temperatures.
In all, authorities received 22 reports either from hunters themselves or families concerned about their loved ones. Coconino County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Gerry Blair said 50 hunters were offered assistance, some of whom declined.
The sheriff’s office said the hunters were trapped by the 2 to 3 feet of snow that fell Monday, as the elk hunting season drew to an end Thursday.
“The storm just hit when everyone was out in the field,” Blair said.
Michigan residents hunkered down under a blizzard warning as the coldest air of the season crossed Lake Michigan. More than 120,000 people lost power in the state, in the middle of a swath from Iowa to West Virginia and up to Maine where residents were in the dark at some point.
High snow totals, fueled by winds blowing over lakes Erie and Ontario, were possible for parts of New York through Saturday, including south of Buffalo and north of Syracuse.
Although less than 3 inches of snow fell on Buffalo, winds gusting between 50 and 60 mph blinded drivers, grounded flights and forced most schools to close. Frequent thunder and lightning lit up the sky before dawn.
A double-decker bus carrying 12 passengers from New York City to Toronto overturned on the New York State Thruway near Buffalo when the driver made an unsafe lane change during the worst of the storm early Thursday, state police said. Nine on board were taken to hospitals with injuries not considered life-threatening.
“The winds were just whipping the snow back across the road, and you couldn’t get a lane or two cleared or kept cleared,” said State Police Capt. Michael Nigrelli.
At least 17 people have died in the meandering storm, including a man found Wednesday outside his pickup truck in central Iowa and a North Carolina driver killed when a tree was blown onto his pickup.
