NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — A powerful storm began blowing through Oklahoma and the southern Plains on the first day of spring Saturday, bringing heavy snow and strong winds a day after temperatures reached into the 70s.
Forecasters said gusts of up to 40 mph could create drifts of blowing snow and blizzard conditions in what the National Weather Service called “a potentially life-threatening” storm. Authorities attributed at least three deaths in three states to the weather.
The storm hit as teams were playing or preparing to do so in the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments this weekend in Oklahoma City and Norman. Some fans from Kansas and Kansas State, who played Saturday in the second round of the men’s tournament, opted not to make the trip south.
“I’m not going to risk getting myself killed going down I-35,” said Kansas State fan John Blankenship of Udall, Kan., who attended the Wildcats’ game Thursday and intended to come back on Saturday. Still, he said, “if it was the Final Four, I’d be going.”
Much of Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle and parts of Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas were under a winter storm warning that was to last into Sunday. Travel was being discouraged in central and northern Oklahoma, where authorities said roads were slick and hazardous. Several flights were delayed or canceled at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City because of snow and freezing fog, spokeswoman Karen Carney said.
Authorities reported dozens of wrecks amid heavy snow and high winds, many of them with injuries. Single deaths were reported in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.
