Every Friday, FreightWaves looks back on the previous week on social media, highlighting photos from trucking, transportation, and weather. A 100-vehicle pileup in a Midwest snowfall, another winter California wildfire, and a dust storm in the Southwest are among the events this week.
Gridlock
A strong storm brought freezing rain and heavy snow to the Midwest on Thursday. Truckers and other truckers were stranded in locations ranging from the Upper Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes region. Accidents caused a 100-plus vehicle pileup on Interstate 39 just north of Bloomington, Illinois, with numerous tractor-trailers involved. For several hours, almost 30 kilometers of the highway were closed.
In addition, severe rain and flooding were reported in sections of the Midwest and Northeast before the storm turned to snow. In the South, the same system produced tornadoes and severe straight-line winds.
Concerns about wildfires
The third wildfire in California this winter broke out early Wednesday morning near Bishop’s Eastern Sierra Regional Airport. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the wind-driven airport fire surged from 50 to 100 acres in 45 minutes and escalated to more than 4,100 acres by Friday morning.
Firefighting teams initially struggled with vision due to smoke, but they have been able to make headway in confining the fire since the winds died down on Wednesday. Officials are examining the source of the fire, which broke out amid a relatively wet winter that, strangely, helped to alleviate the state’s drought. Although evacuation orders have been lifted, certain local roads may still be closed.
Dust squall
Earlier last week, a storm front blew through the Desert Southwest, causing severe winds. According to the National Weather Service, sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph were prevalent Tuesday in southern Nevada, southeastern California, and western Arizona, with gusts of 45 to 55 mph.
Winds blew up walls of dust, dirt, and sand in several spots, notably near the California-Nevada border, not far from Death Valley. Chris Attrell captured this in the photo above.
Shot of beauty
This week’s beauty photo comes from Starkville, Mississippi, where Dylan Hudler captured a halo around the moon late Wednesday evening.
When light refracts or bends across ice crystals in high cirrus clouds, a halo emerges. A similar effect can occur when the sun is in the sky.
